NEWCASTLE United's Emre will be at the centre of an Anglo-Italian tug-of-war in the summer with the skilful midfielder a wanted man back in Serie A.

Emre, a £3.8m capture from Inter Milan last July, has admitted he is unsure whether his future lies on Tyneside or back in Italy.

His agent has revealed two Italian clubs have made contact about signing the Turkey international but the Magpies are in no mood to sell what they see as one of the few useful signings of Graeme Souness' ill-fated spell in charge at St James' Park.

The former manager persuaded the 25-year-old to move to the Premier League and Souness' departure was felt deeply by the Istanbul-born playmaker.

AC Milan and Perugia have both been linked with Emre, but Ahmet Bulut, who represents the player, has refused to name the Serie A sides involved.

He said: "I hope that my client can return to Italy, even if it will not be easy because Newcastle does not seem interested in selling him."

Glenn Roeder is keen to keep Emre on Tyneside with his midfield already missing Kieron Dyer and Scott Parker through injury and illness respectively.

Dyer has been limited to only 13 appearances this season and the after-effects of Scott Parker's bout of glandular fever are still to be discovered.

The caretaker boss' priority is to have Emre available for this weekend and Roeder admitted he is hopeful he can recover from his hamstring problem.

"There is a good chance for him (Emre), he's back in training," said Roeder.

"I did not want to take a chance with him last weekend for the West Brom game. He wants to play in every game but we didn't risk him because there was still a bit of tightness there. We are three or four days further down the line now and I would be surprised if he doesn't make the game."

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