Hammers captain keen on reunion with former team-mate West Ham United captain Kevin Nolan has encouraged former Newcastle United team-mate Joey Barton to join him at Upton Park. Nolan left Newcastle earlier in the summer for a reunion with Sam Allardyce at West Ham after suggesting broken promises were behind his decision to drop down to the Championship. Fellow midfielder Barton's future at St James' Park is also uncertain after he was recently placed on the transfer list and told he could leave on a free transfer. Barton has started the Magpies' opening two Premier League games of the season and could yet stay on Tyneside when the transfer window closes. He has been linked with several of Newcastle's top-flight rivals, while he has also been mooted as a target for Allardyce's Hammers. Nolan feels familiar faces in the capital could help to persuade Barton to move and he sees no reason why the former Manchester City man could not play in the Championship. "I came here so I can't see why Joey Barton wouldn't come here," said Nolan in the Daily Mirror. "He's probably looking for an escape the way he's been treated. He knows I'm here, he knows Sam's here and what we are about. "I can look after him and he can look after me."
