Newcastle Legend Declares - "Why Would Charlie Austin Choose Magpies?"

Newcastle United legend Rob Lee cannot see the Magpies signing Charlie Austin this summer - because he simply does not see the attraction in moving to the North East club at the moment. Despite still holding great affection for the club, Lee took to his Chronicle column to ask the question: "Why would he (Austin) choose Newcastle United?" With southern-based clubs such as Chelsea, Crystal Palace, West Ham United and Bournemouth interested in the Queens Park Rangers forward, Lee simply cannot see why Austin would agree to move to the Magpies - unless they show some ambition.

Lee, who scored 56 goals in 379 Magpies appearances between 1992 and 2002, told The Chronicle:

"The problem we are going to have is that two or three clubs want Austin. Why would he choose Newcastle United? "Playing in front of 52,000 is still a pull - but Newcastle are struggling. He had that last year with Queens Park Rangers and that will be my concern. "Even if we agree a fee of £15 million and pay him what he wants he still has to choose to come to Newcastle. "I'd be asking: 'Who else will you buy because the team isn't good enough?' If I didn't get the answers I would possibly go to West Ham or Crystal Palace or whichever club he gets offered. But you would have to ask for assurances. "He had a year of struggling now he wants a team that can at least finish in mid-table."

The 26-year-old wants to leave QPR following their relegation to the Championship and is intrigued by a potential move to St James€™ Park. The striker is itching for a transfer and whatculture.com/nufc understands that Austin would welcome a transfer to Newcastle if Chelsea€™s interest is not genuine - yet the Tyneside club could miss out due to their lack of urgency in making an official bid. Austin was the fourth-top scorer in the Premier League in 2014-15 having bagged an impressive 18 goals despite playing for a side who finished bottom of the table and he has just a year left on his Loftus Road deal. Newcastle need to add firepower to their strikeforce because they managed just 40 Premier League goals throughout the entirety of the previous campaign - and top-scorer Papiss Cisse€™s future at the club is in doubt, meaning they will have just Ayoze Perez, Adam Armstrong and the goal-shy Emmanuel Riviere as forwards next year. They have turned their attention to the highly-coveted Austin, who will want to remain in the Premier League - and that cannot be with QPR next season following their relegation. Austin has scored 107 goals in 199 league games for Swindon, Burnley and QPR since the beginning of 2010. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow whatculture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.