Newcastle's lawyers are looking into Joey Barton's bail conditions to see if he can return to action after being released from custody.

The 25-year-old midfielder missed the games against Chelsea and Manchester City after being remanded to Liverpool Prison on charges of assault and affray.

However, he has now been released on conditional bail until January 16th, and the club is checking to see whether or not he is available to manager Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce said: "There may be a possibility, certainly not for the Stoke match, but after that, there might be the possibility.

"We are doing our research into that with the lawyer and making absolutely certain that there are going to be no rules or regulations set that we might be breaking if we do attempt to get Joey back into the squad, and take it from there."