Newcastle braced for enforcer offer, club approach already made - report

By Danny Wright

Newcastle are bracing themselves for an offer for Grant Hanley from Sheffield Wednesday, according to a report.

The Sheffield Star claims that the Championship club have already approached the Magpies with an enquiry for the defensive enforcer, who has also been linked with a move to Derby.

However, it is said that the Rams could have ended their pursuit of Hanley after securing the signing of Hull's Curtis Davies earlier this week.

According to the Star, the Owls are also keen on Middlesbrough's Daniel Ayala as they seek to make improvements to their defence ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

The report suggests that Sheffield Wednesday are "considering offers" for both of the centre-backs.

The Newcastle Chronicle have previously reported that the Magpies are looking for a bid of £5.5million for Hanley, after they turned down an offer worth £4million from Derby.

Hanley, 25, is widely expected to leave St. James' Park this summer and the Chronicle also claimed that Aston Villa, Wolves and Cardiff are keen on him.

The ex-Blackburn centre-back made 16 appearances across all competitions for Newcastle in their Championship title-winning season and scored one goal which came in the 6-0 thrashing of QPR in September.

He only moved to Tyneside from Blackburn last year.

Football Insider Verdict

Newcastle are clearly looking to sell Hanley this summer. It was a mystery why they signed him in the first place as they already had several centre-backs that were better than him. Hanley was never going to be a Premier League player, which means that a team like Sheffield Wednesday should also perhaps avoid signing him as they have promotion aspirations of their own. He isn't worth the £5.5million that the Magpies want so they should really look to accept an offer that is lower otherwise he could prove to be a burden on their wages until at least January.

In other Newcastle news, the Toon have been boosted in their pursuit of this top-flight winger who is valued at £8million.

We’ve launched a << BREAKING NEWS FEED>> exclusively for your club. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Newcastle breaking news.