Sheffield Wednesday: Newcastle United set to offer Steve Bruce transfer war-chest to secure St James' Park switch

Reports last night claimed that the 58-year-old had asked Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri’s permission to hold talks with the Magpies, following Wednesday’s return from their pre-season training trip to Portugal.

According to the Chronicle, Newcastle intend on offering Bruce the £60 million transfer budget that had been put in place for Rafael Benitez, before the ex-Liverpool boss left the club to join Chinese side Dalian Yifang last month.

Since the bookies odds on the Owls boss joining his boyhood club tumbled earlier in the week, speculation linking him with a move to St James’ Park has escalated, but the former Hull City manager has moved to quash the rumours on more than one occasion.

To get their man, the Magpies are likely to have to shell out around £5 million in compensation – a much higher fee than the initially reported figure of a mere £1 million. Wednesday are yet to issue a statement on the issue, but the bookies’ odds have continued to shift in the past few hours, with Bruce now the strong, 1/5 favourite to take the job.

Losing their manager at this stage of pre-season preparations would certainly be a blow for Wednesday, with less than a month to go until the new season begins.