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Newcastle United must cough up an £8.6m fee to land Bafetimbi Gomis – according to reports in France.

The 27-year-old is also understood to have gone AWOL after failing to turn up for a meeting with Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas.

Gomis is believed to have made Newcastle his preferred choice for a move this summer.

But it appears that Lyon will not budge on a fee lower than £8.6m, plus possible add-on fees after milestone appearances for the black-and-whites.

The player reportedly wants to pick up £55,000 per week, lower than his wage packet at Lyon.

However, Lyon are holding out for a fee as close as possible to his current market value, which is £10.5million, even though he has just a year left on his contract.

This has infuriated the player and he failed to turn up for a meeting with Aulas this week.

Aulas said: ‘We gave him a letter by hand but he did not come.”

Gomis feels Lyon’s massive demand is excessive and could jeopardise any potential move to Tyneside.

United are now the only club in the Premier League not to have made a break- through in the transfer market.

And pressure is mounting on director of football Joe Kinnear to pull off a transaction soon. Kinnear is the man at the head of negotiations, with Alan Pardew focusing solely on coaching the team and tactics going into the new campaign.

The transfer chief has not spoken publicly for over a month.

Pardew’s squad was reduced even further last night when James Tavernier agreed a loan move to League One side Shrewsbury Town.

The defender is expected to make his debut for the Shrews against Manchester City this weekend.

Town boss Graham Turner said: “He’s one we’ve chased from the end of last season, but Newcastle thought he would end up at a Championship club.

“That didn’t materialise, so we’ve had the opportunity to bring him down here now. Whenever we’ve seen James, the scouts have been impressed with him.

“He’s good going forwards and he’s a decent defender.

“He has had a bit of experience with Newcastle and from being out on loan at MK Dons, Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle.”

Tavernier will spend a month with Shrewsbury before the situation is reviewed once again.