Wes Brown goes off to Toon

The defender is stalling on a new contract from the Barclays Premier League champions and has told friends that he will not sign.

With United refusing to increase their offer, Brown has accepted that he will have to leave Old Trafford when his current deal expires at the end of the season.

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has long been a fan of the 28-year-old England defender and has been monitoring his situation since the summer.

It is understood that Newcastle's former United players, Nicky Butt and Alan Smith, have helped persuade Brown to go.

Ironically, his decision to sever ties with his only club comes as he is enjoying an extended run at right back in place of injured club captain Gary Neville.

But he is upset that his £40,000-aweek wage falls some way behind team-mates and knows that manager Sir Alex Ferguson has enquired about Bayern Munich's Willy Sagnol and Philip Lahm.

Brown is rated by Ferguson as one of the best defenders in the country but he has endured a stop-start career since his debut nine years ago, largely because of the form of Neville and a wretched injury record.

He has been affected by Ferguson's refusal to improve his contract offer and his form has suffered. On Sunday at Liverpool he was, by some distance, United's worst outfield player.

Allardyce is close to completing the signing of Ben Tozer from Swindon in a deal that could be worth £1million.

However, the young defender is likely to go on loan to a Championship side to gain experience. Allardyce feels the 17-year-old left back would gain more from playing regularly than being stuck in Newcastle's reserves.

He said: "There is a possibility Ben will be allowed to go out on loan but first we want him to stay here for two or three weeks so that we can look at him and he can look at us."

Claudio Cacapa has thanked the Newcastle manager for his reaction to his disastrous display against Portsmouth last month. The Brazilian was withdrawn after 16 minutes but returned to star in the victory at Fulham last Saturday.

"The manager has been great with me, telling me that in all his experience he has never known a player who never had an off-day," said Cacapa.

"I should not really have played against Portsmouth because I was carrying a hamstring injury, but I let my heart rule my head because I did not want to let anybody down.

"Now I can only hope that I have had my off-day for this season and I can help us maintain our current good form. I knew the manager and the rest of the players had confidence in me and I hope I repaid them."

Damien Duff, who has been out since April with a foot injury, yesterday played his second friendly in a week and has targeted a return against Chelsea on December 29.