NEWCASTLE United manager Graeme Souness heads to Portsmouth this morning 'excited' at the prospect of having Kieron Dyer available for selection once more.

Dyer has been missing from the Magpies' side ever since he limped out of action against Manchester United with a hamstring strain five weeks ago.

The midfielder's hamstring problems haunted him throughout last season's turbulent campaign. The injury first raised its ugly head against Hapoel Bnei Sachnin in the UEFA Cup at St James' Park last September, causing him to miss two months of action.

The 26-year-old then suffered a recurrence in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals against Sporting Lisbon after he put United 1-0 ahead. The nightmare continued when he was rushed back to play against Middlesbrough in the Premiership two weeks later.

A summer of rehabilitation failed to cure the problem and the England international felt another strain in the season's curtain raiser at Arsenal before finally falling foul once more against Manchester United.

But he boards the Magpies' plane heading for the south coast today looking to put an end to his hamstring hell.

"Since I've been at the club it's been a bit of a stop-start career for him," said the United boss. "There has been no time where we've had a run of games from him.

"He is a top player and the club has missed him. And I feel sorry for myself for not having had the use of him in so many games.

"He's been frustrated. There are reasons for some players getting injured on a regular basis and other times it is just bad luck."

Souness says there has been no setback in Dyer's rehabilitation, and following a new course of exercises - and a move away from United's old polyfibre training surface which increased the club's hamstring problems threefold over the past two seasons - he reckons his midfielder's hamstring concerns will be a thing of the past.

United are still without Nolberto Solano, Alberto Luque and Emre for the trip to Fratton Park this afternoon but it still did not curb Souness' enthusiasm for their imminent return.

"We're keen to get everyone back and I'm like every supporter, I can't wait to see all the players we bought in the summer on the pitch at the same time," confessed the 52-year-old Scot.

"It's not happened yet and (Alberto) Luque is still a couple of months away. Nobby (Solano) has turned up with an injury and it isn't responding as quickly as we would have hoped.

"Emre is not far away but the dilemma is how far away is he during the two-week break. The Turkish national team have two games coming up and one of them is very important. He'll miss the friendly against Germany but whether he'll be available for the game against Albania, we'll have to wait and see."

Souness missed out on several targets before the transfer window closed in August, despite adding the multi-talents of Michael Owen, Emre, Luque and Solano to his squad. But unless the Newcastle boss adds a further two quality defenders and a centre forward, United will still fall short of competing against the Premiership's elite.

Although Souness has been recently linked with moves for Jonathan Woodgate and Wayne Bridge during the January transfer window, he refused to be drawn on whom he would like to add to his squad next year.

He said: "If I was to answer that the chairman would probably fall out of his chair.

"We've not seen Nobby, Luque and Emre play yet. I'm still excited about the prospects of them being on the pitch at the same time. I've obviously got my own thoughts on where I need to strengthen but then so does every manager. But I'm not going to start to talk about that yet."

Souness takes his side to Fratton Park looking to record a third consecutive Premiership victory. The United boss is under no illusion as to the difficulty he faces, despite old boys Laurent Robert and Lomana Lua Lua both being absent from the Pompey line-up.

He added: "The old boys (Andy O'Brien and Andy Griffin) will add a bit of spice to a very hard game for us."

* Emre has been selected by Turkey for their next two games. He is part of a 26-man squad for the friendly with Germany on October 8, despite Graeme Souness' insistance he won't play, and the World Cup qualifier against Albania on October 12.

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.