Barton has always maintained that he is happy at St James' Park and has no desire to leave ... Alan Pardew wants him to stay ... but Mike Ashley wants him out the door.
He has started the season in Alan Pardew's plans, but Newcastle have refused to waver in their stance regarding a new deal.
Joey Barton: "The latest is that we are completing the final stages of the medical, so we can get that over and done with and see where we are at.
"I've not made a final decision yet but, having spoken to the club, it's a club with ambition and I had to come down and hear what they had to say and go through the formalities of the medical side of it just in case something does happen."
"Im not sure if a transfer will be pushed through. There are still a number of things to be sorted out.
"It's process that you have to take step by step and that's the stage we are at at the moment."
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