GRAEME SOUNESS has been urged not to panic in his search for a new striker - with Charles N'Zogbia claiming he has the goals to give Newcastle United the perfect start.

Souness has hit a brick wall in his attempts to bring in a new front-man before the start of the campaign and also has worries over the fitness of his two available recognised centre-forwards.

Alan Shearer looks like being fit for Sunday's Premiership opener at Arsenal after recovering from a calf problem, while Michael Chopra had a scan on a knee injury that will keep him out of action for at least a month. Shola Ameobi is suspended for the first two games.

Having allowed Craig Bellamy and Patrick Kluivert to leave, Souness has been trying hard to find suitable competition for Shearer.

But his pursuits of Nicolas Anelka, Mark Viduka, Robbie Keane, Christian Vieri, Alan Smith and Michael Owen have all proved unfruitful.

Souness does have young attacking midfielders James Milner and N'Zogbia as options in the final third and the latter wants a chance to shine.

The Frenchman has scored three goals during pre-season - including a brace in the midweek 7-1 win over Bray Wanderers - and hopes to have done enough to be handed a starting place at Highbury.

"A lot has been said about Newcastle trying to sign a new striker - maybe if I can start scoring more goals, they won't have to look as hard. I want to help the strikers to score goals, but I also want to score them myself," said N'Zogbia.

"I want to score as many goals as I can this season. I got my first goal for Newcastle against Dubnica, but that doesn't count for very much now - I've got to do it regularly.

"When I was younger, scoring goals was a major part of my game. I always took a lot of pride in my scoring record because, for a midfielder, it was always pretty good.

"I scored a lot of goals in youth football, but obviously it is a lot harder to carry that on in the Premiership. The defenders are a lot better, but it is definitely something I will be looking at this season."

N'Zogbia arrived from French club Le Havre last summer and has had to be patient for chances to make a name for himself at St James' Park. He has only made eight league starts but, at 19, Souness has made no secret of his admiration for the player's potential.

But N'Zogbia is not looking to the long-term, and is aiming to make the 2005-06 campaign the year he starred to help Newcastle back into the Premiership's top six.

"I don't know whether or not the manager has confidence in me, but I hope he does," said N'Zogbia. "I have tried to do the best for the team and I am sure that will help me when it comes to the opening match of the season.

"My main target is to play for the first team week in, week out. I got a good taste of it at the end of last season, but the challenge now is to make it very difficult for the manager to keep me out of the side.

"I feel fit, although you can never take anything for granted. You have got to keep pushing yourself so that you're 100 per cent ready for that first game."

Newcastle's move for Italian full-back Francesco Coco could be back on after Inter Milan agreed to pay a chunk of the player's £60,000-a-week wages. Coco should now sign a season-long loan deal.

But the Magpies look no nearer offloading Hugo Viana after Spanish club Celta Vigo pulled out of negotiations.

* Sven-Goran Eriksson has reassured Michael Owen that his England place is safe - even if he becomes a bit-part player at Real Madrid ahead of the World Cup finals.

Eriksson revealed that Jermain Defoe would be given the chance to play alongside Wayne Rooney in next week's friendly in Denmark as Owen is suspended for the next World Cup qualifier against Wales in September.

However, Owen will still be involved and appears almost certain to regain his spot against Northern Ireland four days after the Wales game and start the World Cup finals - if England qualify - as the team's attacking spearhead.

That is even though he could find himself fifth-choice striker at Real this season following the signings of Robinho and Julio Baptista, with only Newcastle seemingly interested in bringing him back to the Premiership.

Eriksson is nevertheless unruffled by doubts over how many games Owen will start this season and he has given the Real striker, his unequivocal backing.

Eriksson declared: ''I want to qualify for the World Cup and then I want to have Michael Owen with me. He's always shown that he's very important for England.

''Whatever happens, you have to see the positive side and, if he's fit, then - whatever happens - Michael will be an important man.

''Obviously if he never plays a game, that's different, but he played 19 or so league games for Real last season and that's okay.

''I'm sure that he will play for Real, even if he stays there. Maybe not every game, but every second or third game, and he will come on as a substitute in many games.

"I shouldn't complain that much if he doesn't play all the games anyway.

"I know he wants to play more than he did last season, but he was always fresh when he came to the national team and was hungry to play.''

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