Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer is excited about what Kevin Keegan is planning for the summer market.

He said: "I'm sure Kevin knows who he wants as we speak.

"I certainly hope they go out and spend a lot of money on bringing a lot of new players in. It could be exciting times again.

"He's said his top signing will be to get Michael Owen to sign a new contract but I think you can expect a few big ones, I don't think you should be surprised if that's the case."

Shearer admits that he was pleasantly surprised by Keegan's deeper role for Owen which has resulted in the England man netting eight goals in 11games.

He said: "I don't know whether Kevin sort of stumbled on it like Rafa Benitez did with Gerrard and Torres. But there was an injury to James Milner and he was left with the three and he probably just said: 'Go and play lads. Michael, you take a slightly deeper role'.

"Michael's intelligent enough to do it and he's doing it very well."