NEWCASTLE were last night pondering whether to make a formal bid for Portsmouth midfielder Amdy Faye amidst mounting concerns over his injury record.

Chairman Freddy Shepherd has spoken to Pompey counterpart Milan Mandaric about the availability of both Faye and £7.5m rated striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu.

While Portsmouth have insisted they will not reduce the asking price for Yakubu, the south coast club have been more conciliatory about their valuation of Faye.

A bid of £3m would be enough to take Faye to Tyneside, with Shepherd understood to have raised the prospect of a double deal for both players.

Graeme Souness confirmed his pursuit of Yakubu earlier this week but, with Nicky Butt set to be out for three more months, his priorities have changed in recent days.

While Jermaine Jenas, Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer have formed a cohesive midfield unit, the Scot is concerned about his side's relative lack of bite.

Faye would address that problem but, with the Senegal international having suffered serious injury problems of his own in the past, United officials are concerned at the thought of signing another injury-prone star.

Fulham agreed a £3m deal to take Faye to Craven Cottage this summer and, while the Cottagers claimed they changed their mind and signed Papa Bouba Diop instead, sources in the capital claim a long-standing knee problem ultimately scuppered the deal.

Faye first suffered knee problems in October 2003 and, after returning to action two months later, a recurrence of the injury sidelined him for another six weeks.

The lingering problem ruled him out of last summer's African Nations Cup and, after the injury re-appeared again in a pre-season appearance for Senegal, the 27-year-old missed the first month of the current campaign.

Aston Villa and Birmingham have both expressed an interest in the midfielder, but Souness must decide whether he is prepared to gamble on Faye's fitness by tabling a firm bid.

The United boss has been re-assessing his midfield options after receiving confirmation of Butt's latest injury blow.

The England international, who had hoped to be back in the side for Sunday's trip to Arsenal, broke down in training as he continued his recovery from a hamstring problem.

Butt will see a specialist next week in an attempt to determine how serious the latest setback is, but surgery would almost certainly signal the end of the midfielder's season.

Souness has asked Jenas to play in a deeper role during Butt's absence and, while his interest in Faye suggests he is willing to look further afield, he is confident the youngster can continue to provide the defensive cover United's back four needs. "Jermaine has put himself before the team," said Souness. "He has done a great job for us in front of the back four recently.

"What he can do for us eventually is what Roy Keane has been doing for Manchester United - and that is several jobs."

The recent focus on midfield has not diminished Souness' desire to sign another defender this month, although the Magpies have drawn a line under their interest in Bayern Munich defender Samuel Kuffour. The Ghana international wants to end the season with Bayern, while Souness is understood to have been underwhelmed by Kuffour's display in a recent friendly with Cologne.

There is still a £5m bid on the table for Sylvain Distin but, with United insisting they will not increase their offer and City maintaining they will not sell at that price, the two clubs are at an impasse.

* Premiership strugglers Norwich have been watching out-of-favour Newcastle striker Michael Chopra.

The 21-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, is on a season-long loan at League One side Barnsley.

He has scored 11 goals in 25 appearances, with last weekend's hat-trick against Huddersfield helping Paul Hart's side to a 4-2 win.

Norwich have already signed Dean Ashton in an attempt to preserve their Premiership status, but see Chopra as the person to add further firepower to their goal-shy frontline.

Newcastle would not stand in their way, but could demand a nominal fee before releasing the striker. Chopra has always maintained that he remains desperate to succeed on Tyneside but, with his last Newcastle appearance having come in May, he would jump at the chance of a return to the top-flight.

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.