Joey Barton has finally completed his transfer to Newcastle united in a deal which has spiralled to £5.8 million after a bitter row between the clubs, player and his agent. Barton completed a medical at Tyneside 9 days ago and it seemed as though the deal was done and dusted, however Bartons insistance on receiving a ‘good behaviour’ bonus for not handing in a transfer request was rejected by Manchester city.

This led to an impasse that the PFA attempted to broach this week but they were unable to secure the payment for the player and spokesman Mark Mcguire seemed to have a large amount of sympathy for Bartons former employers.
‘This is not an easy situation as City believe Joey is not entitled to the money, because it was the player who triggered the move by activating his release clause.’

That said most people know the move was triggered by him kicking a teammates head in on the training ground and believe he should hardly receive a £300,000 bonus for that, though he might need to save something for his legal fees if the court cases keep coming thick and fast. Barton will have a bonus in his back burner though after the geordie club ended the saga by upping their original £5.5m bid by exactly £300k, keeping the percentages for the player and his agent Willie Mckay upto their high standards. This was also similar to the Harry Kewell transfer to Liverpool, with the player and his agent Bernie Mandic receiving an estimated 45% of the £5m transfer fee.

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