Emile Heskey has accepted the offer of a new contract with Birmingham City that is designed to keep him at St Andrew's until the summer of 2010 - effectively for the remainder of his top- flight career.
The England international striker has been a revelation since joining Birmingham for #6.25 million from Liverpool in May 2004 and this deal is an inevitable consequence of his performances.
Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, regarded it as a priority to ensure that Heskey, aged 27, was offered a deal befitting his status. He earns about #32,000 a week but he will receive bonuses if he agrees to see out his contract.
Heskey already has three years left of his existing deal but if, as expected, he commits himself to the extra two years, he will benefit with increased wages.
Heskey scored ten goals in 32 Premiership appearances last season but had a profound effect as a target man, playing a significant role to ensure that Walter Pandiani and Jer-maine Pennant settled in.
He began his career with his home-town club, Leicester City, at the age of 16 in 1994 and was always tipped to reach the top. He joined Liverpool for #11 million in March 2000 and embarked on an England career that included appearances in the 2002 World Cup and in the 2004 European Championships.
After scoring 39 goals in 150 Premiership appearances for Liverpool, he joined Birmingham and did much to ensure that his new club twice defeated his old club last season. But Heskey?s improvement has done little to put him back into the international fold. His England career appeared to stall after Euro 2004 and he has since failed to add to his 43 caps.
It has been Bruce?s dream to pair Heskey with Mikael Forssell and now the manager has his wish. Moves to secure Heskey?s future are a sign that Birmingham mean business.
