ANDY O'BRIEN will be unveiled as a Portsmouth player this lunch-time, but Newcastle United boss Graeme Souness last night insisted the summer departures from St James' Park will be replaced.

Pompey are believed to have lined up a deal - understood to be worth a little over £1m - for O'Brien who was on the south coast yesterday to finalise the move.

It is a transfer that has left Newcastle short of numbers in defence following the sale of the versatile Aaron Hughes to Aston Villa last month.

But it also suggests that Souness is confident of making new additions to his squad sooner rather than later, and he was linked with a move for Portuguese side Beleneses' centre-back Pele yesterday.

His apparent interest in the 27-year-old came on the same day that he confirmed he was tracking Hamburg's Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten, while he is also believed to be monitoring Blackburn's Lucas Neill.

And the sale of O'Brien - a £2m signing from Bradford in 2001 - has meant the situation to add fresh faces to his backline has become all the more pressing.

Souness last night claimed he was not in a position to know for certain whether the sale of Republic of Ireland international had been concluded.

But he did acknowledge that Portsmouth are in the frame for his signature, and that he does have targets lined up to come in and fill the gaps left by any summer departures.

"I can confirm that Portsmouth have an interest in Andy O'Brien but, as far as I'm aware, nothing has been agreed yet," said Souness.

"I know they have been trying to sign him. I don't know the full facts because it has been the chairman working on things.

"Whether it goes through on Friday I don't know and I don't want to talk too much about something that has not happened yet. But if he was to go we would not be allowing someone to leave if we were not actively working on bringing other faces in."

As well as seeking defenders to battle with Titus Bramble, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Steve Taylor for the central defensive places, Souness is also keen on drafting in midfielders and forwards.

And Everton are understood to have accepted that Chelsea playmaker Scott Parker will either be playing for Newcastle or Tottenham next season.

Parker has been told he can leave Stamford Bridge if a suitable buyer comes along and has been attracted by joining the Magpies in a £7m deal.

However, the former Charlton man is known to have been a Tottenham fan in his younger days and would also be tempted by a switch to White Hart Lane.

The stumbling block there is that Spurs and Chelsea are thought to be negotiating a compensation package for sporting director Frank Arnesen - whether that can be agreed, with Parker apparently included in any such deal, remains to be seen.

But there is a strong chance of seeing Turkish midfielder Emre arriving on Tyneside from Inter Milan.

Newcastle are believed to have been offered the player at a knock down price, and that would seem to suggest a fee similar to the £750,000 valuation mentioned to Middlesbrough last month.

Meanwhile, one defender not on his way to Newcastle is Ghanaian defender Samuel Kuffour.

He was close to being snapped up by Souness in January but a move from Bayern Munich broke down and he has now signed for Italian side Roma.

And the 28-year-old's agent, Fabio Parisi, said: "His top target was to play in either Italy or England, but no team came forward with a firm offer from the Premiership.

"There was some interest from Newcastle a few months ago, but nothing came out of that. Charlton were also interested in him a couple of weeks ago and Liverpool also asked about him, but Roma's interest was always very strong."

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