DAVID Batty could be a man with nowhere to go - unless Newcastle are prepared to increase their valuation of the Blackburn Rovers midfielder.

The Premiership leaders are known to want Batty, whose Ewood future has been in question since leaving Rovers' training ground early last Friday.

A huge rift seems to have developed and Batty could well have played his last game for the club following a confrontation he is understood to have had with manager Ray Harford just days after being substituted in the FA Cup clash with Ipswich.

But whether that substitution was the real reason for the present mess remains to be seen. It was surprising, to say the least, to discover at Ewood only last Saturday that several insiders were already talking of a £3-£3.5 million deal with Newcastle for the player - only 24 hours after the split between Batty and Rovers!

Rovers have never confirmed a bid from Newcastle but North East sources are adamant about the Premiership leaders' interest in him.

But he will not get that move unless they cough up enough cash and the situation seems to have reached stalemate.

In the meantime, I cannot see Rovers considering Batty for selection in the present circumstances, though despite reports to the contrary in today's papers, I know for a fact that he was at the training ground on Wednesday.

And I can also confirm that he will be under instruction to follow training schedules with the rest of the players.

But a lasting solution is needed and the only other obvious way out of the impasse could be another club stepping in for him - and willing to meet the sort of price Rovers would ask. Newcastle clearly have the cash, as they continued their incredible spending spree with the signing of Colombian Faustino Asprilla from Parma.

But will they part with enough of it to solve the present situation?

After making a big impact on his arrival at Ewood from Leeds for £2.75 million, Batty has seen things turn sour.

He was out for a long time with a foot injury and Rovers virtually won the championship without him, as he played only a handful of games.

Then, this season, came the incident in Moscow with Graeme Le Saux.

Batty seemed unhappy at the time that he was hit by a heavy fine - believed to be a week's wages - for his part in the on-pitch incident.

Meanwhile, Chris Sutton was seeing a specialist today for a routine check-up on his ankle ligament injury.

He was hoping to get the go-ahead to step up his training having been out for nearly two months.

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