NEWCASTLE UNITED will make a final deadline-day push to sign Saido Berahino after a club-record £21m offer for the West Brom striker was rejected yesterday evening.

On a busy weekend on Tyneside, Newcastle agreed a deal that should see Roma forward Seydou Doumbia confirmed on a season-long loan and finalised Florian Thauvin’s temporary return to his former club, Marseille.

However, it is the possible arrival of Berahino that has the potential to make Newcastle the biggest story in the country ahead of tonight’s 11pm deadline, with the Magpies’ recruitment team pondering whether to match West Brom’s revised £25m asking price for the England Under-21 international.

With Tottenham and Stoke City both waiting in the wings with anticipated bids of their own, Berahino’s future could remain in the balance until the closing minutes of the transfer window.

Ordinarily, that would rule Newcastle out of the running, with Mike Ashley having previously refused to be drawn into any deadline-day bidding wars.

However, the Magpies have rewritten a number of their transfer rules during the current window, and sources on Tyneside suggest there is a strong likelihood of managing director Lee Charnley making a final approach to the hierarchy at West Brom.

Yesterday’s bid was Newcastle’s second in the space of a week, and would have eclipsed the club’s previous £16.8m transfer record, which was shelled out to sign Michael Owen in 2005.

Having consistently held out for £30m, West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace rejected the improved offer, which still fell £9m short of his asking price.

However, in subsequent discussions, it is understood Peace raised the possibility of accepting £25m, provided Newcastle stick to their usual policy of paying the vast majority of the fee in an up-front payment.

Last summer, West Brom’s negotiations with Tottenham broke down over the London club’s desire to stagger their payment in a series of instalments and make a significant proportion of the final fee dependent on incentive-based clauses.

Tottenham remain interested in Berahino, who has 18 months remaining on his current deal, and with their pursuit of Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martinez having failed to come to fruition, Mauricio Pochettino is pushing his board to make an offer of their own later today.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes is also a long-standing admirer of Berahino, and senior officials at the Britannia Stadium were last night indicating a willingness to offer more than £20m for the 22-year-old.

With multiple options to consider, Peace is in a strong position, and having held on to Berahino once when the striker looked all but certain to leave, the West Brom chief could once again dig his heels in.

He watched Berahino score both of the Baggies’ goals in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Peterborough in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and is regarded as one of the shrewdest boardroom operators in the whole of the Premier League.

Having barely featured in Tony Pulis’ first team this season, Berahino is keen to leave the Hawthorns. Pulis is willing to accommodate the versatile forward if he remains in the Black Country for the remainder of the campaign, although he accepts that the final decision will not be in his hands.

“The chairman will make the decision on the financial matters, and that’s really what it boils down to,” said Pulis on Saturday evening. “Football wise, everybody would want to keep Saido here.

“We need to get him fit. He’s not fit. Even today, although he scored two great goals, he’s not as fit as he should be, and he knows that.”

Berahino has not made a Premier League start since the end of October, but has been working with a personal fitness instructor in an attempt to ensure he is ready to hit the ground running if he leaves the Hawthorns.

Whatever happens with Berahino, Newcastle are keen to sign Doumbia for the remainder of the season, and the Ivory Coast international was on Tyneside yesterday undergoing a medical and finalising the financial technicalities of his season-long loan from Roma.

Doumbia, a 28-year-old striker, made a €14m move from CSKA Moscow to Roma last January, but failed to make an impact at the Stadio Olimpico and was loaned back to the Russian capital last summer.

He performed impressively for CSKA, scoring in a Champions League game against Manchester United, but returned to Roma after his loan agreement was cancelled.

He was offered the chance to join Marseille, Fenerbahce and Chinese side Shenhua Shanghai this month, but opted to move to Newcastle once the extent of their interest became clear.

Newcastle also considered a loan deal for Swansea striker Bafetimbi Gomis, but opted to move for Doumbia when the Swans only expressed a willingness to agree to a permanent transfer because they did not want to loan a player to one of their relegation rivals.

Thauvin’s return to Marseille is a loan deal which does not include a clause for a permanent signing in the summer.

The winger joined Newcastle in a much-trumpeted £12m move last summer, but has failed to make an impact in the Premier League.

His only Magpies goal came in a Capital One Cup win over Northampton Town, and his last league start came in September’s home defeat to Watford.

 “It was a new experience (at Newcastle),” said Thauvin. “I learnt new things. It gave me a bit of time to think about what I had been through here, and to better analyse what I had done with Marseille.

“It was good for me to be able to think about that more clearly. I think that this experience allowed me to learn a lot.”

Newcastle remain keen to sign a left-back to provide cover for the injured Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara, but a deal for Guilherme Siquiera fell through when the Atletico Madrid failed to turn up for a scheduled medical on Tyneside and instead agreed a season-long loan with Valencia.

The Magpies had also been linked with Valencia’s Lucas Orban, but he has joined Spanish side Levante for the remainder of the campaign.