Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins will be fit for the start of the new season.

Reports in recent weeks have suggested the 23-year-old Nigeria international could miss the beginning of the new campaign with an ankle injury.

But both the player and the club are mystified by the suggestion, and he is expected to join up with the rest of his team-mates on July 7 for the start of pre-season training.

Martins sat out the Magpies' closing-day defeat at Everton with a knee problem and did not figure in his country's recent friendly against Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria.

However, that injury has since cleared up and Newcastle fully expect the £10million forward to return to Tyneside fit and well.