PREMIERSHIP NEWS DAVID BATTY, Newcastle's England midfielder, is facing a potential ban of anything up to ten matches at the beginning of next season following the FA's decision to haul him into the Lancaster Gate dock over his alleged man-handling of referee David Elleray earlier this month. Already set to miss the opening five games of the upcoming campaign because of three dismissals in the past ten months, the 29-year-old ex-Leeds and Blackburn star has now - as Football365 predicted - been charged with misconduct for his 'push' on Elleray while receiving a red card at Ewood Park on May 10. If the misconduct charge is upheld, Batty will almost certainly receive an additional ban ranging from one to five games. The chances are that it will be no more than one extra game, that's what the West Ham duo of Steve Lomas and Samassi Abou received following similar incidents. Batty, expected to play a major role in England's World Cup campaign, is disputing the dismissal and has requested a personal hearing in which he intends to use video evidence to prove he did not punch Garry Flitcroft. Until he joined Newcastle in February 1996, Batty had never been sent off. Last season, though, he received three red cards, finishing with the worst disciplinary record of any Premiership player. Football365 says:Being an England World Cup player clearly does not carry the same weight as being England World Cup captain - Alan Shearer gets off for booting a player in the face, Batty faces a massive ban for shoving his hand into an official's chest. Proof it's best not to mess with the law!!! ASTON VILLA Real Sociedad are poised to end Fernando Nelson's frustration at Villa Park by taking the Portuguese international to Spain this summer in a £1.5m deal. The right wing back has been frozen out under new manager John Gregory and has made it clear he wants out. The 26-year-old, signed by Brian Little for £1.5m two years ago admits that without the promise of first team football there is no point in staying. Although Sporting Lisbon and Graeme Souness' Benfica are interested, Nelson is known to favour a move to Sociedad, who will play in the UEFA Cup next season. BARNSLEY Barnsley will play in a pre-season tournament at Preston North End to celebrate the opening of their £3m Bill Shankly Kop. The Tykes will play Tranmere on Saturday August 1, after Preston have played Manchester City earlier in the afternoon, and in the final or third place play-off the next day. Preston believe the tournament could attract over 30,000 punters. A huge contingent of fans are expected to make the short trips from Maine Road and Oakwell. LIVERPOOL Italian giants AS Roma claim they are on the brink of ending Patrik Berger's Anfield hell. The Serie A club, whose coach is Berger's Czech countryman Zdenek Zeman, say that they expect the deal to be completed next week. General manager Carlo Piazzelli has announced that the clubs are "close to a compromise agreement" over the player. Roma have been trailing Berger for some time, aware that Benfica - who are also interested - face crippling financial problems and can't raise the £4m Liverpool want. The Italians are believed to have had a bid of £2.5m rejected, but now feel they are close to an agreement. Liverpool bought Berger from Borussia Dortmund in August 1996 for £3.5m and the Reds at least want their money back for the 24-year-old. A Liverpool spokesman refused to comment on the situation - but Berger's increasingly acrimonious stay on Merseyside seems to be coming to an end. He has fallen out with boss Roy 'Third In The Table' Evans after he was continually named as a substitute - he declined to sit on the bench for the home game against Bolton. After the Benfica move fell through, Berger returned and was part of the squad for the season's fag-end games, being named man of the match in the last day defeat at Derby. Despite fining Berger heavily after he refused to play in a reserve match, Evans had stated he would like to try to persuade him to stay. The Czech's work permit was renewed at the end of last season, even though he had not reached the required 75% appearance rate and he is now in the exact same situation. STOP PRESS:Football365 has heard that Sean Dundee has signed for Liverpool from Karlsruhe. The South African striker, who qualified for a German passport last year but was left out of their squad for France, has agreed a deal with Evans and the Liverpool board have come to an agreement with the German club over a fee believed to be £2m. Dundee is expected to challenge Karlheinz Riedle for the chance to partner Michael Owen in Liverpool's attack next season, with Robbie Fowler out until Christmas with an awful knee injury. Dundee is available because Karlsruhe, after their shock relegation from the Bundesliga, need to off-load their high wage earning players. The 25-year-old is on around £8000 a week and still has a four-year contract to complete. NEWCASTLE UNITED Gheorge Hagi has admitted he has one regret only in his career - the fact he has never played in the Premiership. And the ex-Barcelona star, warming up for Romania's third successive World Cup appearance where they will face the might of England in Group G, believes he made a big mistake rejecting the chance to play for his idol Kevin Keegan at Newcastle. "I had the chance to come to Newcastle when Keegan, my favourite player as a kid, was manager," he revealed. "I was with Barcelona, but decided to go to Italy rather than Newcastle and it was a very hard decision. On reflection, that was a mistake. I'm 32 now and perhaps I have missed the chance to play in England. That's, a shame because whenever I see Premiership games they are so fast and exciting - the best anywhere." Judging by his form at club level for the best part of a decade, Newcastle might have found him to be another huge waste of money. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR Tottenham intend to join the bidding for Borussia Dortmund full back Jorg Heinrech - but may find the German international's £7m price is too high. So far, Dortmund have rejected a £5m offer from AC Milan for the 28-year-old - who has been capped 13 times by Germany - and a £4.5m bid by Atletico Madrid. Alan Sugar would be prepared to match Milan pound for pound but is unlikely to go any higher for a player with only a limited time left at the highest level. The versatile 6-foot-2 star, who plays on the left of defence for his club and on the right for Germany, is desperate to move abroad but Dortmund are determined to hang onto him for at least one more year of the two left on his contract. WEST HAM UNITED The Hammers could make Hong Kong star Ricky Cheng Siu-chung the second Chinese player to play professionally in England. Cheng, 25, has had preliminary contact with West Ham through the agent of his Instant-Dict teammate, former Leeds striker Ian Baird. He will travel to Upton Park for a one-month trial in July. "It's time for a change," said the left winger. "My physical fitness and speed have dropped since I came back to Hong Kong in 1993 because the standard of soccer here is not competitive enough. I hope I can learn as much as I can with West Ham. I know it is going to be very tough but I believe I should expect much more from myself or I will never improve." Cheng may follow the footsteps of Hong Kong's Cheung Tsz-doi, who had an 18-month spell with Blackpool in the 1960s.

NATIONWIDE NEWSROUND   DIVISION ONE MANCHESTER CITY Kit Symons is on the brink of taking a 50% pay cut to stay with relegated Manchester City. It was assumed the out-of-contract defender would leave Maine Road after the club offered him a new deal that slashed his £4,000-a-week wages in half. But the 27-year-old admits he wants to stay: "Money isn't really my motivation. I have enjoyed my time at City, even though we haven't had the best of times. But sooner or later this club is going to get things right and when it does the place will take off. I would love to be part of that. "The offer of the new contract is a lot less wages and maybe at this time of my career I should be thinking about getting as much as I can. I will be having more talks, maybe we can compromise a bit. But I'm happy where I am. As long as I can pay the bills and my wife, who is expecting our first child soon, is happy where we are, I will consider staying." SHEFFIELD UNITED The Blades have announced that the position of team manager will be advertised, with a closing date of June 5. A number of applications have already landed on the Bramall Lane doormat, including one from caretaker manager Steve Thompson. WEST BROM Manager Denis Smith has issued a "hands off" warning to Premiership new boys Middlesbrough after they launched a £2.5m bid to sign winger Kevin Kilbane. Smith has no plans to part with the Republic of Ireland international, who became Albion's record signing when he moved to the Hawthorns for £1m from Preston last summer, claiming: "Kevin is one of the players that we will be building the team around next season along with lads like Lee Hughes, James Quinn and Matt Carbon. I would hardly be looking to sell him." Kilbane caught former Albion star Bryan Robson's eye when the baggies beat his Boro side 2-1 at the Hawthorns last month. DIVISION TWO BRISTOL CITY City have signed Gillingham striker Ade Akinbiyi for a club-record £1.2m to spearhead their challenge in Division One next season. Manager John Ward has been chasing the 23-year-old Nigerian for several months and the fee more than doubles the club's previous highest outlay - £500,000 for Andy Cole in 1992. Ward said: "Ade will add a new dimension to our front play. He has pace, power and the ability to score goals." The former Norwich striker, who scored 22 goals for the Gills this past season, added: "Some Premiership clubs, including Aston Villa, were interested in me. But I've come to City because I hope to get regular first-team football. I'm not worried about the size of the fee because that had nothing to do with me. I'm looking forward to playing in the First Division next season." BURNLEY Former Southampton boss Dave Merrington is being linked with the vacant manager's position at Turf Moor after resigning at Wolves' chief scout. The 52-year-old, who was only at Molineux for 15 months, is a former Burnley player and first-team coach. MILLWALL MILLWALL made two new signings yesterday but both of them played for the club only a couple of weeks ago! Former Brighton striker Junior McDougald, released by Rotherham, has signed a three-month contract after impressing in Millwall reserves' last game of the season, while teenage midfielder Stephen Roche, released by former manager Billy Bonds on a free transfer, has been given a reprieve. Millwall were upset by the 19-year-old Irishman's attitude last season and he played only 18 minutes of League football, on the opening day, but new manager Keith Stevens and chairman Theo Paphitis have decided to give him another chance by offering him a month-to-month contract. PRESTON NORTH END North End goalkeeper David Lucas has admitted: 'It's make or break for me at Deepdale next season.' The 20-year-old has just returned from international duty for England Under-21s in France, knowing the most crucial year of his career lies ahead. Capped at Under-18 and Under-20 level and a regular trainer with Glenn Hoddle's full squad, Lucas knows he must make the No 1 shirt his own in the upcoming season or risk his international career coming to a grinding halt. Lucas was limited to just 10 first-team appearances last season as Gary Peters and then successor David Moyes kept faith with Finnish international Tepi Moilanen. The lack of opportunities is clearly frustrating for a young player rated so highly by his country: "Not playing for your club does get to you, especially when at the same time you're being selected to play for England. I was disappointed not to play in Toulon, but it was far more disappointing not playing for Preston last season. I felt I wasn't given a fair chance. OK, I made a few mistakes, but other players have made mistakes and been given a break - I don't think that has ever happened to me. When I was in France I was basically told I didn't start because I was not playing regular first-team football. It seems there has been this hype about me for the last few years, but no-one at Preston has really given me a sustained run in the side. It's a big honour being picked for your country," he added, "but you can soon be forgotten if you're not playing for your club. I still have great faith in my own ability and believe I can make it to the top - it's just a case of being given the chance to prove it. I want to sit down with the manager and see what my chances are for next season.

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