AUSSIE star Brett Emerton last night insisted he was happy with Feyenoord - and that it would take a massive offer to lure him away from the Dutch giants.

Newcastle have joined the hunt for the 22-year-old midfielder, who was on Middlesbrough's wanted list before Steve McClaren agreed to take charge at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro head coach Terry Venables handed Emerton his first international cap in Australia's ill-fated 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, and is a big admirer of a player who captained his country at the Sydney Olympics.

But the managerial upheaval on Teesside has cast doubt over Boro's pursuit of Emerton, who has been watched by Newcastle boss Bobby Robson.

Liverpool failed with a £5m bid for Emerton and Manchester United and Blackburn have also been credited with an interest.

But Emerton, currently in the Socceroos' squad for the Confederation Cup along with Boro duo Mark Schwarzer and Paul Okon, maintains he is in no hurry to quit Rotterdam.

The attraction of Champions' League football with Feyenoord is proving strong, and Emerton said: "I'm happy and I'm not looking to leave.

"It would depend on several things and it would have to be an exceptional offer to get me to leave.''

Meanwhile, the Premier League last night strenuously denied reports that they had imposed a block on Christian Ziege leaving Liverpool until the investigation into his move to Anfield from Middlesbrough is completed.

Spurs want Ziege and are prepared to pay £4m for the Germany wing-back, who is at the centre of a Premier League probe into allegations by Boro that he was the subject of an illegal approach when he joined Liverpool in a £5.5m deal last August.

Boro are seeking a further £2.5m in compensation for the loss of Ziege, who they believe had a market value of £8m at the time.

But a Premier League spokesman stressed: "We definitely haven't put a block on Ziege going anywhere.

"As far as our investigation into his transfer from Middlesbrough to Liverpool goes, we have met Ziege and his lawyers, but we are still awaiting progress as a result of that.''

l Darlington are facing an anxious wait before they know whether Boro target Neil Maddison will join them or not, writes RAY SIMPSON.

The 31-year-old, who has been given a free by Middlesbrough, has held further talks with Quakers chairman George Reynolds, and Darlington expect an answer when he returns from holiday.

Manager Gary Bennett said: "The chairman spoke again with Neil over the weekend, and now he has gone away on holiday to think about our offer.

"Hopefully, he'll give us an answer when he returns. It would be great for the club to sign him."

Norwich City are also understoed to be keen to sign Maddison, but Quakers are hoping that the attraction of playing for his home town club might be enough to sway him to drop to the Third Division.