Skipper set to sign contract extension with NUFC.

It looks as though Kevin Nolan will be putting pen to paper on a contract extension at Newcastle United.

The player himself has said that he expects the deal to be done "next week or the week after" on an extension that will see the current captain under contract to the club until 2015. Of course, it could just be the club fattening up the deal so that they can get more money for the player when they inevitably sell everyone at the club over the summer....

On a more serious note, this is good news as Kevin Nolan is a pivotal figure at NUFC these days. Without his goals we'd be deep in the mire and he is, in my mind, the player that keeps the rest on track. Put it this way, if Nolan had been captain back in 2009 I don't think we would have been relegated.

This fits in rather nicely with an earlier article where rumours circulating suggest that Joey Barton has signed a new deal with the club. Barton said not so long back that if Nolan signs a deal then he will also. What odds on a double announcement?

If the contracts for these two materialise then I'll have to give credit to the club. They said that once safety was assured that they would look at contracts, which they have if these unconfirmed reports turn out to be true. That will only leave Jose to deal in, but with little on the horizon in terms of contract talks it looks more and more likely that he'll be off in the summer.

Meanwhile it appears that Newcastle could be offered some Liverpool players in the summer, with names like Paul Konchesky, Joe Cole, David N'Gog and Emiliano Insua all touted as possibilities. Of those I'd only take N'Gog and Insua as both of them are young enough to improve and have done a job in their respective positions before.

It's getting interesting at St James' Park already, and the season isn't even over yet! Putting transfer links on the backburner for a second, the key job was to get some of our key players tied down with new contracts. They appear to have done that with Nolan and Barton, and there is still a chance, even a slim one, that Jose could sign yet. I'm not holding out much hope however.

So it's almost good news all round!