MANCHESTER CITY are willing to offload left-back Wayne Bridge to Newcastle.
City hope to seal a £7million deal for Arsenal’s Gael Clichy in the next 48 hours, paving the way for Bridge to go.
Toon boss Alan Pardew is interested in the former England international, 30, as cover or as a possible replacement for unsettled Jose Enrique.
But Bridge’s £85,000-a-week salary is a major stumbling block to a permanent move which means a loan deal could be struck with City paying part of his wages.
Pardew has had a £1.1m bid rejected for Swansea left-back Neil Taylor, 22, and though he still hopes a deal can be done, has now turned his sights on Bridge.
Enrique, 25, who only has a year left on his contract, has refused to discuss a new deal but Pardew maintains there have been no offers as yet for the Spaniard.
Clichy, 25, will become a City player tomorrow after returning from honeymoon to complete the deal.
The Frenchman is the first part of the City jigsaw to be completed and will tie up the deal at City’s Carrington training complex within the next 24 hours.
Clichy will then join his new team-mates on Friday to fly out for City’s US tour.
Barton, 28, admits his contract wrangle with Toon is no nearer to being settled and he seems set to leave for free next summer.
But Newcastle have denied reports that Barton is available for only £1m and insist bidding starts at £4m.
Barton has been linked with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Everton.
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