Newcastle United transfer and takeover news: Mike Ashley must lower Magpies asking price as takeover talk rumbles on

SWANSEA, WALES - OCTOBER 04: Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (R) in discussion with managing director Lee Charnley prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Swansea City and Newcastle United at Liberty Stadium on October 4, 2014 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

A report on the magazine website claims United are overpriced at £350million – hence why Sir Jim Ratcliffe, known as Britain’s richest man, pulled out of negotiations to buy the club in the summer.

“Obviously people talked to us about Newcastle. But you come back to a valuation in the hundreds of millions and it's very difficult to contemplate,” said Bob Ratcliffe, chief executive of chemical firm INEOS – who could have been NUFC’s new owners had they been priced more competitively.

The report states: “While what he said paints a picture of an inflation issue within the Premier League itself, it goes to prove what many of Ashley’s critics have said; he is pricing himself, or more pertinently, Newcastle, out of a deal.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle were reported to have the 38th most valuable squad on the planet last week – here’s how that value is broken down, player-by-player.

FULL STORY: The controversial transfer value of every Newcastle United player in Steve Bruce's '£205m squad'

Michael Chopra has hit back at Steve Bruce’s claim he “lied” about Newcastle United players not knowing their jobs – but says he hopes the manager is a success.

The striker drew an angry response from Bruce after claiming, on national radio, that “senior” players at the club had told him that some of the team “didn’t know their jobs” in the 3-1 defeat to Norwich City.

FULL STORY: Michael Chopra responds to Steve Bruce's digs about his Newcastle United career – and 'lies' claim

Elsewhere, emotion and nostalgia aplenty in this piece as former Newcastle United rising star Tony Lormor discusses his battles with cancer and looks back on his time with the Magpies in the 1980s.

Lormor also talks about Wallsend Boys Club, his experiences of throwback hero Mirandinha and legend Paul Gascoigne.

FULL STORY: 'I'm not afraid of dying' - Ex-Newcastle United striker Tony Lormor opens up on heartbreaking cancer battle

And this would be big news for the city.

FULL STORY: England could return to St James’s Park to play a World Cup qualifier – report