West Ham have emerged as frontrunners to sign QPR striker Charlie Austin after Enner Valencia suffered a serious injury.
Newcastle had been leading the race but head coach Steve McClaren played down reports that the Magpies were going to be bringing the striker to Tyneside.
He said: “There’s been a lot of talk about that throughout the weeks but we've not been in contact with QPR and they’ve not with us so no, that’s just a name that circulates and has been going around.”
QPR are determined to receive in the region of £15million for their star striker, rejecting a £12m offer from Leicester, and the Hammer may be more willing to pay that as they don't want to move into the Olympic Stadium as a Championship club.
Head coach Chris Ramsey told talkSPORT last month: "We have to be realistic. It's unlikely he'll stay. We want to keep him but it's unlikely.
"The club is in a financial position that it needs to recoup some money and I think for his ambitions he wants to keep playing in the Premier League to go to the Euros.
"We've been offered £12million and turned it down so we're looking in excess of £15million. Goalscoring is something you can't coach, it's just a habit that some people have."
