Kevin Nolan was putting the finishing touches to a £4.5m move to West Ham United last night, leaving dressing room ally Joey Barton to wonder what else is left in store for Newcastle United this summer.

KEVIN NOLAN was putting the finishing touches to a £4.5m move to West Ham United last night, leaving dressing room ally Joey Barton to wonder what else is left in store for Newcastle United this summer.

Nolan’s unwillingness to pen a new deal, believed to be an incentivised extra two years on top of the 24 months he has remaining on his existing £40,000-a-week contract, has ultimately led to Newcastle owner Mike Ashley deciding to sell.

The 28-year-old was in London yesterday to finalise the deal and complete a medical after West Ham’s new boss Sam Allardyce, the former Magpies manager who spent ten years with him at Bolton, refused to give up when he had an initial £1.5m offer rejected.

His imminent departure, expected to be confirmed this morning, raises numerous questions at St James’ Park.

Manager Alan Pardew - who has ideas of replacing Nolan with Bayern Leverkusen's Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta and St Etienne's Blaise Matuidi - has repeatedly suggested he did not want to lose the dressing room’s influential skipper.

With Nolan set for West Ham and Barton, who only has 12 months remaining on his existing deal, available at the right price, there are also question marks over the futures of Steve Harper and Alan Smith.

And Barton expressed his fear via Twitter yesterday that Jonas Gutierrez, Jose Enrique and himself would be the next three players to leave Newcastle.

Speaking from Royal Ascot yesterday, however, Barton was less categorical, although he clearly has reservations about some of the decisions being made in the boardroom at St James’ Park.

“It’s tough for me to second guess what other people are going to try to do,” he said. “I've seen we've been linked with certain players here and there, but for me first and foremost you can't build a house unless you have solid foundations.

“Some of the things that are going on at the football club makes you just question it a little bit, but you've got to believe in a process, you've got to believe that the manager knows what he's doing, that the chairman knows what he's doing, the owner knows what he's doing and time will be the teller of that.

“It would be easy for me to sit here and say I don't agree with this or that, but they could be doing the best moves ever and it'll only be in 12 months time or 18 months time we will know that.”

Following Nolan’s exit there is bound to be increased spotlight on Barton’s own situation. He has always privately maintained an intention to see out the remaining year on his contract unless a top six club comes in for him.

Barton said: “I love the football club, without a shadow of a doubt. Everyone knows that. A few of the senior players who have been there through the ups and downs - the likes of Kevin, Stevie Harper, Smudger (Smith) and probably a couple of others that I haven't named there.

“It's a difficult situation. I totally understand the club's point of view, but on the flip side it's hard for me to get drawn into it. At the end of the day I'm an employee of the football club and I've got to go back and do a job at the end of the summer.

“I don't want to leave the football club and I'd love nothing more than to win a trophy at Newcastle, the same as a number of players have. Whether I get the opportunity to do that is out of my hands. I’m an employee of the football club and if they want to do something else in the meantime, I’m not foolish enough not to listen to offers.”

Pardew is said to be satisfied they have got a decent price for Nolan and has been reassured he will be given the money to reinvest in his squad. Newcastle are on the verge of announcing the arrival of striker Demba Ba, while Swansea full-back Neil Taylor is on Tyneside to push through his deal.

There is a feeling that Dan Gosling, who spent most of last season out through injury, can help fill the gap left by Nolan, while Pardew is in France working on a replacement.

But Barton still thinks it is a sad day that Nolan, an influential figure in turning around the fortunes after Newcastle’s fall out of the Premier League in 2009, is leaving.

“He's a great pal and he's done a great job for the football club,” said Barton. “Hopefully the move breaks down, but if it doesn't you've got to believe in the processes of the football club and no one player is bigger than the club.

“It's not for me to say how much Kevin Nolan will be missed, but it would be a massive loss to any club to achieve what he has in three years. I don't know whether I’m speaking a bit untoward, but he's achieved iconic status at the football club, not only for his three goals against Sunderland in the derby, but for the way he's held himself in and around the city and for the season he had in the Championship and also the season we had last season.”