CRAIG Bellamy's much-discussed move to Everton is back in the balance this morning after David Moyes warned him he would have to spend some of his time in midfield next season.

The Newcastle striker held discussions with the Everton boss last weekend in which he expressed his willingness to move to Merseyside provided certain conditions were met.

Bellamy is ready to come to a compromise agreement over his £50,000-a-week wage demands which would break Everton's current wage ceiling.

But the Wales international is understood to be concerned at Moyes' reluctance to guarantee him a striking spot at Goodison Park ahead of the new campaign.

The manager already has three forwards on his books after James Beattie joined Marcus Bent and Duncan Ferguson in the second half of last season.

That has already caused problems, as his preference for a 4-5-1 formation left Ferguson on the bench for large tracts of the last campaign and also restricted Beattie's first-team opportunities.

Bellamy has been warned he could be asked to play on the right of midfield from time to time, if Moyes opts to start with the more direct physical threat of either Beattie or Ferguson.

And this has not gone down well with a striker who found himself dumped from the Newcastle squad after refusing to fill a similar role for the Magpies last season.

Bellamy's current war of words with manager Graeme Souness began when he refused to play out of position at Arsenal in January.

Both Souness and chairman Freddy Shepherd accused the 25-year-old of feigning an injury on the training ground after being told he would be playing on the right of midfield at Highbury.

Bellamy had previously complained about being shunted out of his preferred centre-forward position and is unlikely to be enthusiastic about the possibility of being plunged into a similar situation.

Moyes is keen to allay his fears by stressing that he sees the Welshman as an out-and-out striker, but the Everton boss will be unable to provide cast-iron guarantees about his future intentions.

Meanwhile, Louis Saha's agent, Ranko Stojic, has dismissed suggestions the striker has been attempting to engineer a surprise return to St James' Park.

Saha enjoyed a brief loan spell at Newcastle in 1998, but the Magpies baulked at Metz' £2m asking price and he later joined Fulham before making a subsequent £12.8m move to Manchester United last January.

The Frenchman has made little impression at Old Trafford, but Stojic insists any talk of a move from Manchester is wide of the mark.

"It is true that there was big interest from several clubs for Saha. Everton, Newcastle, I got calls from Monaco, Marseille, but my answer is no - he stays at Manchester."

Newcastle are also being thwarted in their efforts to tie up a deal for Inter Milan midfielder Emre Belozoglu, despite believing they were almost there several weeks ago.

The Turkish international remains confident he will be playing in the Premiership next season, although his destination remains a mystery.

"My priority is to play in Europe, which I have repeated several times," said Emre. "I am most likely to play in England.

"I want to play the game. That is why the money is not a problem. If I was thinking about the money, I would stay with Inter."

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