SIR BOBBY ROBSON'S need for a striker in January will be further highlighted when Lomana LuaLua leads his country into the African Nations Cup next month.

Henrik Larsson, Patrick Kluivert and Eidur Gudjonson are just three on a growing list of exciting names to have been linked with a move to St James Park, as the Magpies plan their assault on the top four.

With Craig Bellamy ruled out long-term with a serious knee injury and LuaLua heading for Tunisia early in the New Year, Robson will only have Alan Shearer, Shola Ameobi and the inexperienced Michael Chopra vying for the front places.

LuaLua is reluctant to leave Tyneside to play for his country as he fears he will upset Robson.

But the young striker admits that he cannot turn down the chance to captain the Democratic Republic of Congo in his home-continent's major football competition.

The African Nations Cup starts on January 24 but the Congo squad - now managed by former Newcastle No 2 Mick Wadsworth - meet up a fortnight before the tournament kicks-off.

And LuaLua insists he has been torn between club and country.

"It's a dilemma. I could not ask for any more from my country to be captain as a 22-year-old," LuaLua, who has six caps to his name and has only made one Premiership start this season. "But the timing of the cup makes it difficult.

"I've been getting one or two chances in the team at Newcastle. The manager has given me the opportunities but now I have to leave for a while and that doesn't look good on a player.

"It's a worry and it's something I've been thinking about a lot. This is the club where I want to be and I don't want to be in the gaffer's bad books. But at the same time my country needs me.

"I'll need to talk to him about the situation. I'm not going anywhere for a holiday or to enjoy myself. I just want to play football. Hopefully I'll be able to gain a lot of useful experience and take that to Newcastle with me.

"Sometimes in life you just have to take a gamble. Ask any player if they would like to captain their country and what would they say?

"These opportunities come around once in a life time and you never know what might happen in football, so it's something I'm looking forward to.

"It's a three week tournament but if we were to do well I could be away for five or six weeks. It could work out to be the best thing for me. A lot of the players will be based in Europe so I'll be taking some good experience."

LuaLua is determined to leave his mark in the competition as he bids to follow in the footsteps of George Weah, Patrick Mboma and Jay-Jay Okocha to be crowned the African Footballer of the Year.

He added: "I want to show the world what I can do. I want to be voted African Player of the Year. I have ambitions and I want to to something for my country. The honour is unbelieveable. My dream has always been to represent my country and this is a good chance for me."

Robson will need as many members of his squad as possible for the holiday programme, and he received a boost when it was revealed that midfielder Lee Bowyer's groin injury is not as serious as was first feared.

Bowyer limped out of the 1-1 draw at Molineux ten days ago with the injury and was unable to train all last week, which meant he missed the Liverpool game on Saturday.

The club intended to send him for a scan on Monday and to see a specialist yesterday, but the problem has responded to treatment and Robson is hopeful that he will be back in the fold sooner rather than later.

''He'd had a slight groin injury for a couple weeks,'' said Robson. ''He'd been training and playing with it. We were going to get a scan done to see exactly what it was, but we don't think it's anything too severe.''

Meanwhile, Newcastle will have to wait until February to discover whether or not St James' will host the 2005 UEFA Cup Final.

UEFA's executive committee was due to discuss venues at its meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, tomorrow and on Thursday, but the decision has now been put back until the next meeting on February 4 and 5. They are competing against five other stadia on the shortlist, including Sunderland's Stadium of Light, Hampden Park in Glasgow, and the Estadio do Dragao, the Jose Alvalade and the Estadio da Luz in Portugal