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Newcastle United were not prepared to pay the hefty loan fee it would have required to sign England international Danny Welbeck.

And the Magpies have no interest in wantaway Toronto striker Jermain Defoe.

The Manchester United man has been offered to both Tottenham and Arsenal along with a host of other top flight club.

A loan fee of up to £5million was put forward by the Red Devils and while Newcastle did have an interest in Welbeck, the loan fee and a weekly wage packet of around £75,000 per week put United off the deal. That would have made Welbeck top earner at St James’ Park – before they opted out.

Defoe wants out of the Canadian club after Ryan Nelsen was sacked.

Toronto general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said: “We have received an offer and have discussed it internally.

“When you have scored as many goals as he has, and have the reputation and background that he has, then it’s not uncommon to receive these offers.

“We have received multiple offers before, and in the course of this year, so I want to confirm that we are in talks.

“We are not 100% committed in what we are doing and we have to sit down and talk about what is the best plan of action.”

But Newcastle have not been in touch with the MLS outfit.