Newcastle have expressed an interest in signing Liverpool outcast Daniel Sturridge, reports the Newcastle Chronicle.
Sturridge is free to leave Liverpool before Wednesday’s deadline but fears being priced out of a move away from Anfield.
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez is desperate to sign a new striker in a bid to solve his side’s goalscoring woes and has already been linked with a move for Feyenoord striker Nicolai Jorgensen.
However, now the Magpies are pushing ahead with a loan bid for Sturridge until the end of the season but his £150,000-a-week wages could prove the biggest stumbling block.
Sturridge has already been heavily linked with a move to Sevilla and Inter but both sides have cooled their interest over the weekend, leaving Newcastle as the frontrunners.
If Liverpool are to accept a loan move it will almost certainly have to include a mandatory option to buy at the end of the season.
The 28-year-old has missed Liverpool’s last 11 matches and has even dropped below Danny Ings in the pecking order for places under Jurgen Klopp.
Sturridge has played a direct hand in six goals in 514 minutes of action across league and European competition this season.