DARREN Bent is Newcastle United's leading summer target - and newly-installed director of football Joe Kinnear has been charged with the task of signing the former Sunderland striker when he returns to work at the start of next week.

Kinnear has been in Italy on a family holiday, but after a summer of frustration that leaves the Magpies as the only Premier League side not to have signed a single senior player, there is a shared determination among the club's hierarchy to make significant inroads next week.

With Bent having been identified as the number one target, it is hoped the former England international will have moved a giant step closer to being a Newcastle player by the time the club's first-team squad head to Portugal on Thursday ahead of a two-game tour.

The Aston Villa striker, who has also been the subject of an inquiry from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, has remained in the Midlands while Paul Lambert has taken the majority of Villa's senior players to Germany.

Sources close to the 29-year-old claim he is thoroughly disillusioned with life at Villa Park, and would jump at the chance of joining Newcastle despite competing interest from Fulham, Norwich and Stoke.

However, Kinnear will still have to agree a fee with Aston Villa and reach an agreement over personal terms with Bent, and next week's negotiations will be the first test of his credentials as director of football.

Villa are understood to be demanding around £6m, a fee Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is understood to regard as too high for a player with limited sell-on value. A compromise fee of around £4m has been mentioned, although it remains to be seen whether Villa will be willing to accept such an offer.

Bent is currently earning around £65,000-a-week, and would therefore have to accept a pay cut in order to move to Tyneside, unless his wages are subsidised by Villa.

Such an arrangement is not out of the question – Villa are believed to have agreed to subsidise some of Shay Given's wages if the goalkeeper completes a surprise move to Doncaster – and while Bent will be reluctant to take a significant pay cut, he is ready to be realistic in order to play regular first-team football.

With the World Cup looming in 12 months' time, Bent accepts he needs regular action in order to have any chance of forcing his way into Roy Hodgson's plans.

While Kinnear will lead transfer negotiations alongside club secretary Lee Charnley, Alan Pardew, who welcomed his club's international players back to training yesterday, has been heavily involved in discussions over a new striker and is satisfied with the decision to pursue Bent, who worked under him at Charlton.