Newcastle United were offered the chance to re-sign Bobby Clark in the last summer window but opted against a move that would have been an easy win.

Clark, still just 19, is now leaving Red Bull Salzburg just 18 matches into his stay in Austria. Glasgow Rangers and Swansea City are in the thick of the chase for the young Geordie.

As things stood going into the final throes of the window, Rangers could not agree a fee with Red Bull Salzburg.

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The teenager was allowed to leave Newcastle during the ill-fated Mike Ashley era when he moved to Liverpool in 2021, just months before the Newcastle's Saudi-backed takeover. After breaking into Jurgen Klopp's first-team at Anfield he would play in the team that won the Carabao Cup at Wembley against Chelsea, a day that led to his dad Lee Clark having "tears of joy".

When Klopp departed, it was the cue for Bobby to try his luck in Austria and get a taste of playing overseas. With the youngster now available for a January move, the Swans and Rangers were fighting it out for a loan deal.

Both Eddie Howe and former director Amanda Staveley are fans of Clark, son of ex-Toon legend Lee, and the Ripon financier once looked into reversing Ashley's bad decision. Speaking about his Newcastle exit last year, his father, in an interview with Liverpool Echo, said: "We discussed it, and he decided it was his time to move on. So when he made that decision, we had to support him as a family.

"Of course, I’m a Geordie. I’m black and white through and through and there aren’t many fathers and sons that have played for the club. As soon as he got into the academy at Newcastle, could that dream become a reality?

"But I wasn’t going to make that happen to the detriment of my son. If he was unhappy there, it’s his happiness that is most important to me. I just backed Bobby every step of the way."