Newcastle United rumours: Toon prepare £10m bid for Liverpool talent, Everton join battle for midfielder

After a largely underwhelming campaign, the Magpies managed to secure a midtable finish, but ambitions in the north east will still be to challenge higher up the table more consistently, and the best way to ensure that happens is to bolster Steve Bruce’s squad.

If the Toon Army are to bring in new additions, however, they’ll have to do a better job of wooing them than they did with Anton Ferdinand 13 years ago.

Speaking on a podcast recently, the ex-West Ham defender opened up on a failed move to St. James’ Park.

He said: "Newcastle wanted me first, but I turned them down.

“At the time Newcastle were going through a transitional period upstairs in the boardroom, and they were unstable.

"Then Sunderland came in and bid £8million. West Ham accepted it, and I remember the chief executive and sporting director, Gianlucia Nani, came to me and said 'Anton, we've accepted a bid for you, £8million to Sunderland’.

"I said 'I'm not going’. He went 'what? Anton, Roy Keane’s the manager – he'll be good for you. You should go’.

"I said 'if Roy Keane will be good for me, then bring him here?'. That conversation ended, and for a week he kept coming to me saying 'Anton, you've got to go, please’.

"The last straw for me was 'Anton please the club is in financial struggles, it could go under if you don't go’. It pulled on my heartstrings a bit."

The ex-defender also gave an insight into what it was like to work under current Toon manager Steve Bruce.

He added: “I think they saw the best of me the three or four games before I left," said Ferdinand. "The year before that, I had a lot of discrepancies with Steve Bruce, the manager at the time. We never got on. That's a fact.

"People have their opinion, and people need to understand that it's a game of opinions. His opinion of me as a footballer, and as a person, was one that didn't allow me to play as much as I should have.”

We’ve gathered the best of today’s Premier League transfer speculation below...