ROBBIE WILLIAMS - ROBBIE WILLIAMS' NEW ALBUM EXPECTED IN 2009

ROBBIE WILLIAMS' NEW ALBUM EXPECTED IN 2009

Robbie Williams will release his first album in three years in 2009, his manager has confirmed.

It was suggested in January that the singer was apprehensive about EMI's ability to deliver Williams' eighth studio album with the record label in turmoil after a takeover.

But speaking to BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat programme, the former Take That star's manager Tim Clark said a follow-up top 2006's Rudebox could hit the shelves next year.

"I would certainly hope that a new album will be coming next year," he explained. "There are never any guarantees but that's what we would hope."

He continued: "He's been writing and we heard some wonderful stuff.

"I was with Robbie last week. He was at home and he was writing songs and he played some of them to us."

Clark said Williams, who has sold more than 50 million records after putting out seven studio albums between 1997 and 2006, is "in very fine spirits, in very fine form".

And he rubbished tabloid reports that the 34-year-old's next album will be extraterrestrial-themed due to his interest in UFOs.

"It's been pretty much exaggerated in the press, as if that is anything new," he remarked.