Alan Judge to Newcastle? Brentford boss Dean Smith believes he needs to return to fitness first

Dean Smith played down talk of Newcastle moving to sign Brentford midfielder Alan Judge as the Irishman has yet to return to training.

The 28-year-old, who broke his leg after a horror Luke Hyam challenge in April, was linked with a move to the Magpies in the summer but a move fell through due to the state of his recovery.

Now, the Tynesiders have been tipped to make a £600,000 move for Judge again but Smith believes it is more important for last season's player of the year to return to full fitness.

He said: “For all the talk of Alan Judge going anywhere, he's not had a training session yet. I think it's all a bit premature.

“We want Alan to get back to full fitness and return to the player he was. He's in a good place and he's striking balls and he's yet to be coming into the training sessions with the lads.”

Judge, though, is out of contract at the end of the season and there is currently no indication as to whether he will sign a new deal with the club.

Smith added: “Not that I know of but that's one for the directors of football, not me.”

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!