Football
ESPN staff 9y

Newcastle make improved offer to QPR for Charlie Austin transfer

Newcastle United have lodged an improved bid for Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin, a source has told ESPN.

Austin has been linked with a move to Newcastle throughout this summer and new manager Steve McClaren is keen to wrap up a deal for the 26-year-old striker who scored 18 Premier League goals on a QPR team that was relegated last season.

QPR are reported to be holding out for a £15m fee for one of their leading assets and while the latest Newcastle offer is believed to fall short of that figure, discussions over a structured deal that will include performance-related payments to the selling club are being discussed.

Newcastle are not the only club that have expressed an interest in signing Austin, with Leicester and West Ham among those also rumoured to be tracking the hit-man who won a call-up to the England squad at the end of last season.

Resolving Austin's future in the coming days is a priority for QPR as they look to raise funds to rebuild their squad after Rio Ferdinand, Joey Barton, Richard Dunne, Bobby Zamora, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adel Taarabt were among those who left the Loftus Road club the summer.

They have also been bolstered by a cash windfall from the £49m deal that saw Raheem Sterling move from Liverpool to Manchester City this week. QPR received around £9m from the deal as part of a sell-on clause inserted into the transfer when they sold a teenage Sterling to Liverpool in 2010.

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