JEAN-ALAIN BOUMSONG claims his Newcastle United career will not be affected by a determination to earn as many caps as possible for France.

Young centre-back Steven Taylor was last night pulled out of the England under-21 squad as a precautionary measure as Newcastle boss Graeme Souness aims to avoid a defensive crisis.

But Boumsong is in no mood to damage his own World Cup chances by pulling out of the French squad for tomorrow night's friendly with the Ivory Coast in Montpellier.

With Titus Bramble still weeks away from a return to action, Souness only has the Frenchman, Taylor and Craig Moore available to fill that role, the is the major reason why the Magpies boss has asked Taylor to withdraw from the Under-21s ahead of tonight's game with Denmark.

But Boumsong has had no such discussions with Souness regarding his own international involvement, and he doesn't expect to.

"I'm in the squad and I'm hoping to play for my country. I will not be talking to him (Souness) about it because I don't see playing as a risk," said Boumsong.

"We do not have European football this season, so I will be playing a lot less games. It's not a risk for me to play for France.

"Most of the players who are in the squad are going to be playing in the Champions League or the UEFA cup as well.

"That's not the case for me.

"There's no real risk for me to play for my country and that is that."

The chances of Souness landing Luis Boa Morte before the weekend appear to have been dashed after Chris Coleman reiterated his desire to keep him and he was named captain for Saturday's match with Birmingham.

It's the St James' Park club's failure to land a new attacker that has increased the possibility of Tottenham's Robbie Keane coming to Tyneside.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has returned to Britain after a business trip to America and is preparing to make a renewed bid for Jermaine Jenas.

Levy had a £6m bid turned down over a month ago but is hoping to tempt Newcastle into swapping Jenas for Keane and he will hand £5m cash over as part of the deal.

But even if Newcastle accepted the offer it is unclear how desperate the Republic of Ireland's record goalscorer is to leave White Hart Lane.

Keane is known to have talked at length to international colleague Stephen Carr about a transfer to St James' Park and he is not very warm on the idea.

Jenas, meanwhile, received the welcome news yesterday that his red card at Arsenal on Sunday has been reduced to a yellow card.

While Souness - whose side were level before the midfielder was sent off - will feel aggrieved by the fact his player should not have been dismissed in the first place he will also be relieved there will be no suspension.

Had the red card, dished out by referee Steve Bennett for a challenge on Gilberto Silva just after the half hour, stood Jenas would have been banned for three games.

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