LONDON - Kevin Keegan is reportedly on the verge of returning to Newcastle United after a three-week break from football.

The two-time former Magpies boss quit the club after falling out with owner Mike Ashley over the role of director of football Dennis Wise and went on holiday to California.

Newcastle are now second-last in the Premier League, with Joe Kinnear having been appointed caretaker manager last week.

Chris Nathaniel, the London-based businessman coordinating the Nigerian offer, said in an interview last week that the Nigerian group could ask Keegan to return as manager if their bid succeeded.

A report in the Daily Telegraph suggests that Keegan, 57, could return soon.

A close friend of his told the newspaper: 'Kevin has had a great break, is feeling refreshed and wants to return.

'He knows what it would mean for all the fans and he wants to have a fresh crack at the club he loves.

'New owners have to come in but Keegan has been pleased to see his name mentioned by prospective buyers and is now just waiting to see what happens.'

Ashley has cut his asking price for the club from &pound450 million (S$1.2 billion) to somewhere between &pound280 million and &pound300 million, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

He bought the club for &pound133 million last year and paid off debts worth about &pound110 million, so he would still make a profit at the lower asking price.

He announced that he was selling up earlier this month after fans turned on him in the wake of Keegan's resignation.

Kinnear started work this week but has been guaranteed employment only until the end of this month, by which time Ashley hopes to have completed a sale.

Keegan's continued popularity on Tyneside means that the new owners would be under intense pressure to reappoint him to the manager's seat.

The boardroom turmoil has not helped Newcastle's cause on and off the pitch, with confidence in the squad 'lower than a snake's belly', said striker Michael Owen.

Kinnear himself experienced it first hand the moment he arrived at Newcastle. No club official met him at the airport, meaning he had to pay for a cab to take him to St James' Park.

He supervised practice for the first time at Newcastle's Darsley Park training ground on Tuesday as preparations began for the visit to Everton on Sunday.

But he has already come under fire, after giving the players Monday off following the 1-2 home defeat by Blackburn.

Kinnear was slammed for not spending his first day as the team's new manager trying to remedy things on the training pitch.

'What's all the fuss about?' he asked yesterday. 'After Saturday's game, we decided to give the players a day off on Monday for a variety of reasons.

'One is the fact that we are not playing until Sunday this week. And then it gave me the chance to go into the training ground yesterday and have a long chat with all my coaching and backroom staff.

'As a result, I knew all I had to know when the players came in on Tuesday.'

At his first training session, Kinnear quickly discovered what Keegan feared - that Newcastle's squad are too small.

That could prompt him to re-sign Stephen Carr as he does not have a fit right-back for the trip to Everton.

The 32-year-old former Republic of Ireland international has not found a new club after he was released by Keegan at the end of last season. -- AFP, REUTERS