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Shane Ferguson says breaking into Newcastle United’s first team is his main priority this season – but Birmingham City boss Lee Clark is still waiting in the wings to give him regular action.

The Northern Ireland international spent last term on loan at the second city club, and Clark admitted to the Chronicle he was keen to take the left-sided player back in the next few weeks on another temporary switch.

However, Toon boss Alan Pardew wants to have a thorough look at Ferguson during the club’s pre-season programme, and the Derry lad is likely to play against Motherwell on July 16.

Ferguson said: “It definitely is a big year for me, as I’m coming to that age now where I just want to play a lot of games and hopefully I can this year.

“Obviously my main objective is to try and get into the Newcastle team. I played a good few games last season up until Christmas before I went out on loan to Birmingham City and I just want to get back to that again and hopefully I can in the coming years.”

Pardew will hold discussions with Ferguson on his return to United’s HQ on July 1 when the player will return for fitness assessment.

The United chief is a keen admirer of Ferguson and the 21-year-old said: “I just have to wait and see when I go back to pre-season in a few weeks’ time and see what the plans are.

“I think there have been talks already about me maybe going out on loan again. I see a few things in the papers as well about that.

“It was great to go out on loan last year and play a lot of games for a few months.”

But Ferguson also has an excellent rapport with Clark and added: “I scored a goal and had a few assists, and as I said it was great to just go out and play games.

“I really enjoyed it my time at Birmingham.

“Because he (Lee Clark) was my reserve coach at Newcastle that was one of the main reasons why I decided to sign for Birmingham.

“I knew what he was all about – he’s a great manager and it worked really well when I went down there.

“If we bring in a couple more players then I wouldn’t mind going out on loan, to be honest, just to get more game time.

“It would be great to get a full season under my belt.

“Going out and meeting the new lads at Birmingham and living in a new city was a great experience.”