Now Crystal Palace are in for Aston Villa's Darren Bent
Darren Bent's Aston Villa exit took another twist today – but the club are not in talks with Newcastle over the striker's sale.
The Magpies director of football Joe Kinnear claimed they are negotiating a deal with Villa over signing Bent.
But the claret and blues are yet to receive any bid or enter into any discussions with the Magpies about the £24m England hitman.
Newcastle and Fulham want Bent, who is available for £6m, and Crystal Palace have now revealed their interest.
Eagles co-chairman Steve Parish, who is close to sealing a deal for Arsenal's Marouane Chamakh, confirmed his interest in the former Tottenham man.
Parish said: "Darren's a fantastic player isn't he? I think that you know again there's a number of players that we are looking at.
"What is fantastic for our football club is to be linked with the kind of players that we are."
Kinnear also said he has spoken to Bent's agent but meeting with his camp without Villa's permission would leave the Magpies open to disciplinary action for breach of rules.
"We were with Darren's agent for two or three hours, we thrashed out a deal," said Kinnear.
"We are still in negotiations with Aston Villa so there is a really strong possibility there."
Newcastle are believed to be close to signing QPR's Loic Remy on loan.
