KEVIN KEEGAN insists that he is ready to pay up to £25 MILLION for a player this summer.

Despite the desperate disappointment of losing out to Tottenham in the big-money race for Croatian wonderkid Luka Modric.

But Keegan – who has now lost a top transfer target to Spurs twice in three months – last night warned Newcastle fans that the club faces a perpetual struggle to persuade foreign stars to opt for a move to Tyneside over London.

The United boss has no fear of staking his reputation on a deal which would shatter the club’s transfer record.

“Spending £25 million on one player doesn’t frighten me one bit,” said Keegan, who paid a then world record £15 million for Alan Shearer in 1996.

“You have to target big players. If you have a budget, it’s like any budget: if you have ‘X’ million, you can divide it into one or two players, or four or five.

“We’ll be in there pitching for some very good players. If you don’t bowl, you can’t knock the wickets down. We might get hit for six, but we might get a wicket.”

But, having lost out on Modric, Keegan sounded an understandable note of caution.

“We may end up on July 7 with no one because we don’t offer them enough – and I don’t mean just financially.

“You hear Thierry Henry say he wants to be back in London, and that is a well known fact with a lot of foreign players,” added Keegan.

“It helps Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal and works against us.

“But we are where we are. We’re not going to move this franchise like they do in America.

“Players have to move here, they have to live here, they have to put up with the weather and they have to enjoy playing in this stadium.”