NOLBERTO SOLANO has reassured Newcastle United he has no intention of going back on his decision to retire from international football.

During the 30-year-old's first stint on Tyneside he was at loggerheads with former boss Sir Bobby Robson regularly over his involvement with Peru.

This time Solano is not prepared to feud with manager Graeme Souness and not playing for his country was a topic that was brought up in contract negotiations with Newcastle.

The Magpies are unlikely to have paid Aston Villa £1.5m for the right winger, as well as allowing James Milner to head in the opposite direction, if Solano had been still part of Peru's World Cup qualification push.

And the South American has pledged to concentrate on transforming Newcastle back into serious contenders for a top six place.

"I'm not going to be playing (for Peru) any more, I want to think only for my football here," said Solano. "It's difficult when you are travelling all the time.

"I have signed a contract here for two years. Who knows? When I go back to Peru in three or four years, maybe I will play international football again. But for now it is over."

Even at Villa there were times when Solano was returning home from an international break when the rest of his team-mates were heading for an away fixture.

And that typified the scenario Robson often faced at Newcastle and resulted in Solano being sold to the Villans in January last year.

Souness, however, is happy he will not face similar problems. "Nobby is not allowed to go back to Peru to play internationas," said Souness.

"It's something we touched upon during our talks. We were aware of the situation (in the past). Nobby realises that he has a wonderful opportunity here, coming back to the club he loves, playing with some great players, hopefully being a success. He has to be fully concentrated on Newcastle United and he realises that."

Solano will be available to make his second debut for Newcastle at Blackburn on Sunday. He was suspended for Saturday's draw with Fulham.

The Magpies are without a win in their first five Premiership games and have scored just once.

But Solano said: "We all need to pull together because this is a club which should be finishing in the top four.

"I hope I can supply the chances for Michael, for Alan or for whoever else is playing in the attack. We need to start scoring more goals.

"We know it won't be easy to achieve what we want this season because we will be playing against very good teams in the Premier League. That is why the manager has brought in top players. We have to improve. We have to fight.

"I'm very excited about playing with people like Alan and Michael. Michael Owen is one of the best players in the world. Michael has given us a hard time over the years. He is one of us now.

"For me, it has been like coming back after a long holiday. There are still some old faces around the place and that has been nice. I'm very happy to be back and I'm grateful to the manager for giving me the chance to come back."

Solano trained with the rest of the squad on Sunday as Souness ordered his players in on their day off after Saturday's disappointing draw with Fulham.

Souness' preparations for Sunday's trip to Blackburn have been hit by injuries to Albert Luque (hamstring) and Scott Parker (suspended) who will both be missing.

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