Newcastle United are weighing up `two very serious` offers, the man handling the sale of the Premier League club said here on Monday.

`We have two very serious contenders to buy it,` Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce told the FT Sport Industry Summit in London.

Owner Mike Ashley put the club up for Sale in November after becoming a hate figure for Newcastle fans angry at his role in the departure of popular manager Kevin Keegan from St James` Park.

The businessman, who made his fortune by creating the Sports Direct chain of stores, was said to be asking 250 million pounds (398 million dollars) for a club he bought for more than 134 million pounds (213 million dollars) in May 2007.

Harris refused to reveal the identities of the latest bidders but said he expected a sale to be completed by the end of this year or in early January at the latest.

`We have had Nigerians that don`t exist, and South Africans told by the media they were bidding,` Harris added.

`The truth of the matter is that the phone has rung several times, frequently because I have made the calls - but they have reacted to them.

`It is not easy doing anything in this world whether it`s selling a football club or anything else, but it will come through.`

Newcastle`s on-field fortunes have improved recently under interim manager Joe Kinnear and Monday`s 2-0 home win over Aston Villa at St James` Park took the north-east club off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone.