Chopra Hopeful
By Nick Raynor
December 22 2004
Out-on-loan striker Michael Chopra is hopeful his performances at Barnsley will earn him a new contract on Tyneside.
The soon-to-be 21
year old forward scored a hat-trick against
Chopra is catching
the interest of a few premiership clubs including Everton as assistant manager
Alan Irvine worked with Chopra in the Toon academy.
But the Newcastle-born striker wants to play for
the club he supports.
He
said:
"I hope Graeme Souness will be keeping an eye on
me, especially after Saturday,"
"I think he'll have seen and I hope he'll take
notice.”
"This is the last year of my contract and I've got
to do as well as I can. The club haven't mentioned anything to me, and come
January 1 I can start to talk to other clubs but I'm a Geordie and I'd love to
stay at
"I want to play first-team football and I'll have to
see what comes along. I hope to get another contract at
"I've got my match fitness back and if I went back
I'm sure I could do a job. However, I can't be recalled this season.”
"I'm a more mature player. It's a hard division
and I'm playing against a lot of big lads who don't time their tackles right.
I'm a lot sharper and have improved as a player, which will hopefully benefit
"I had to get out of
"I thought I did OK against
"The main thing for me was first-team football and
this season I've scored eight goals in 18 games.”
"We were struggling when I first went, but we've
started to get the ball down and pass it well. We've won four games on the trot
and are climbing up the table. We've got Tranmere Rovers away next, and if we
beat them we're not too far from the play-off places.”
"I've settled in well. They're a great bunch of
lads and the spirit's really high."