KIERON Dyer moved swiftly yesterday to reassure Newcastle fans that he's not about to walk out on the club.

Dyer flatly denied he would be heading for a showdown if the club failed to match his ambitions in the transfer market this summer.

But significantly the £20m-rated England midfielder gave no indication that he is prepared to extend his current contract at St James Park, which runs out in 2004.

The Geordies have failed so far to get the player and his representatives around the negotiating table.

And Dyer hardly gave them room for encouragement when he said: "I have three years left on my Newcastle contract and I intend to spend them helping the club win the trophies it so richly deserves."

Dyer had earlier shaken the Geordies with an apparent 'buy or else' ultimatum.

But yesterday he moved quickly to distance himself from those comments, instead insisting: "I am proud to say I am totally committed to the club, and especially to Bobby Robson, who has been an inspiration.

"I have complete faith in the Newcastle management to make the right decisions about how to strengthen the squad, and they can have complete faith in me to help bring them success.

"Of course it would be wonderful if Newcastle could attract more big-name players.

"But there is no question of me having showdown talks with Bobby or anybody else at the club.

"I want medals and trophies and I want to win them with Newcastle."

Newcastle intend to convince Dyer that they share his ambitions by splashing up to £20m on three major signings this summer.

Chairman Freddy Shepherd insisted: "We can tell Kieron Dyer that we are as ambitious as he is ..if not more ambitious.

"Bobby Robson may be away on holiday, but we are in almost daily contact and he is working tooth and nail to bring in some top quality players."

The Geordies are privately seething because they believe agent Jonathan Barnett is trying to unsettle the 22-year-old schemer.

But they have no intention of getting into a row with the player himself after issuing 'hands off' warnings to interested clubs like Manchester United, Inter Milan and Roma.

Fans fear that Dyer will follow one-time idols like Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne and Chris Waddle, who all publicly praised the club's supporters before quitting Tyneside.

But Newcastle appear determined to keep Dyer by spending big to bridge the gap that currently seperates them from the game's genuine trophy hunters.

They already have an £8m bid on the table for Everton's want-away striker Francis Jeffers, and they are also in the market for Sparta Rotterdam's brilliant £3m teenage defender David Mendes Da Silva.

But Malaga's £8m Uruguayan attacker Dario Silva will not be joining the club because Newcastle have called a halt to any further South American signings.