NEWCASTLE UNITED will return from a pre-season get-together in Austria later today, but manager Sam Allardyce will not be on board the flight.

The Magpies boss left the camp on Saturday to step up his efforts to make further additions to his playing staff, with Marseille defender Habib Beye in his sights.

Having already added four to his playing staff this summer, Allardyce is keen to continue his rebuilding with defenders a priority.

The interest in Beye has been well documented and, provided a deal can be done to seal the Beye transfer within the next couple of weeks, Allardyce wants to add a left-back to his squad, but sources close to Gabriel Heinze suggest he would not even contemplate moving to St James' Park.

Newcastle also remain keen on making 'one or two' spectacular signings before the start of the new campaign on August 11 and have suffered a blow in their hopes of landing Barcelona star Deco.

The Portuguese playmaker had been offered to Newcastle when a delegation from Tyneside travelled to Camp Nou to discuss the futures of Edmilson and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

But Deco has now been deemed as 'un-transferable' in the Spanish media, with officials at the La Liga giants claiming he is going nowhere.

And in an attempt to quell speculation, it has been suggested that he has been offered the role of vice captain at Barca behind Carles Puyol. Deco does not want to leave Barcelona, nor do the Spanish giants want to sell.

And, if there was a change of heart, the most likely scenario would see him move to Chelsea with Frank Lampard heading in the opposite direction.

With Deco looking like staying in Spain, Allardyce looks as if he will almost certainly still have Kieron Dyer and Emre at his disposal during pre-season.

It would also seem that Albert Luque, in whom there has been little interest, will be still at St James' - even though he has been allowed to leave the Austria training camp for personal reasons.