Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is considering making a surprise move for Darren Bent this summer, according to the
Telegraph. The Magpies boss has added the England international to his list of summer transfer targets and is readying a cut-price £6 million bid, a fraction of the initial £18 million Villa paid for him in January 2011. The 29-year old forward has just endured a troublesome season at Villa Park and spent the final six months of the campaign warming the substitutes bench. He has been reportedly told by current club Aston Villa that he is free to leave Villa Park as he is not in manager Paul Lambert's plans. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland star is now hoping to revive his flagging career - and his hopes of factoring into Roy Hodgson's 2014 World Cup squad - by moving on this summer, even if it means joining the Black Cat's bitter rivals. He's even prepared to take a substantial pay-cut in order for his transfer away from the club to go through, with Newcastle prepared to pay him only half of the £65,000-per-week in wages he currently picks up in the Midlands. Pardew, who knows the player well having managed him at Charlton Athletic, is keen to bolster his attacking options next season and has never managed to replace Demba Ba, who quit for Chelsea back in January.