Leeds United lead race to sign £5m Newcastle United man amid fresh development

Leeds United appear to be leading the race to sign Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow after Championship rivals Hull City withdrew their interest.

Darlow spent the second half of last season on loan at the MKM Stadium. After impressing during his 12 appearances, Tigers boss Liam Rosenior was keen on making his move permanent.

However, Rosenior has revealed Hull have been forced to admit defeat with Newcastle reportedly demanding £5million for the 32-year-old, who has featured 52 times in the Premier League.

“I don’t think Karl is someone that will be joining us,” Rosenior told HullLive. “Karl is someone who I loved working with, he’s an outstanding goalkeeper but the price that Newcastle are speaking about is something we can’t do this summer.

“I’m disappointed, but that’s football. My job is to give this football club the best squad possible. Can we be successful without Karl Darlow? One hundred per cent, so we move on.

“We have targets in the goalkeeping area. Matty Ingram gives me so much confidence, I’m not going to panic into signing a goalkeeper and we’ll keep working on our targets.

“You have lists and you work through your targets. You have your number one target, two and three. It’s the same thing that every club goes through and we’re working on those targets at the moment.”

Darlow played the first half of Newcastle’s opening pre-season friendly at Gateshead on Saturday afternoon but is still expected to leave St James’ Park, nine years after joining from Nottingham Forest.

Leeds are considering a move for Darlow, as are Bournemouth. Middlesbrough have also shown an interest but at this stage are an unlikely destination.

Asked if one of the club’s goalkeepers could leave this summer, Howe said: “Maybe. A lot of unknowns. It’s difficult to give any clarity because anything can happen from this moment. We’re training the group very well.

“We haven’t had Martin [Dubravka] back yet and we haven’t had Nick back, so although you say we have five we’ve only been training with three.”

Nick Pope is recovering from hand surgery but is expected to return in time for the start of the Premier League season. Martin Dubravka, as of the weekend, is yet to report back for pre-season while Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie were handed new one-year contracts last month.