West Brom battle Newcastle for Gibbs as Taylor link cools

West Brom are ready to battle Newcastle for Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs – news which could signal the end of the Baggies’ interest in Leeds’ Charlie Taylor.

Gibbs has just one year remaining on his Arsenal contract and it’s thought the club could cash in on him this summer with Sead Kolasinac set to arrive on a free transfer from Schalke 04 on July 1.

Newcastle and Brighton have been credited with an interest in the left-back, now 27, and it’s thought a fee of £7.5million could persuade the Gunners to sell.

But The Sun and the Daily Mirror claims West Brom are ready to join the hunt for Gibbs – which would put their efforts to agree a deal with Leeds for Taylor in serious jeopardy.

West Brom have been tracking the Leeds full-back for some time and saw a £3.5million bid rejected last month.

Taylor is out of contract at Leeds, but having been at the club since the age of 11, the club would be due a compensation fee for his services.

The Baggies are reported to have upped their bid to £4million this week in an effort to prevent the deal going to a tribunal.

Should a deal fail to agreed now, a tribunal could set the fee for Taylor at anywhere between £4m to £8m – and as Tony Pulis explained, that’s a risk the Baggies are not prepared to take.

“We wouldn’t go to tribunal on it. You could do that and they put an extraordinary price on it,” Pulis said.

Therefore, a move for Premier League tried-and-trusted Gibbs would, financially, make more sense to West Brom.

Gibbs only started eight Premier League matches for Arsenal last season, but he did make six appearances in the Champions League.

The full-back has made 229 appearances for the Gunners since making his first-team debut in 2007.