NEWCASTLE UNITED have been told they will have to spend at least £6m to sign Grant Hanley after Blackburn Rovers rejected their opening two offers for the Scottish centre-half.

The Magpies will complete the £2.5m capture of Isaac Hayden later today after the Arsenal youngster passed a medical over the weekend, but their attempts to recruit Hanley have proved less successful.

Newcastle’s first bid for Hanley, which was worth £3.5m, was turned down at the end of last week, and while the Magpies returned with an improved offer of £4.5m over the weekend, that was also rebuffed by the Ewood Park board.

Blackburn are adamant they will not accept less than £6m for Hanley, a 24-year-old Scotland international who joined Rovers’ academy at the age of 16, and are also pushing for a series of clauses that would see the final transfer fee rise even higher in the event of Newcastle winning promotion next season.

Rafael Benitez, who retains an interest in Middlesbrough’s Daniel Ayala, has identified Hanley as his preferred addition to a defensive unit that has lost the services of Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor since the end of last season.

Hanley spent the weekend in Austria, but was a late withdrawal from the Blackburn team that beat SV Reid in a friendly, with Rovers boss Owen Coyle claiming his skipper had picked up a knee injury in training.

Hanley was, however, fit enough to walk onto the pitch at the final whistle and applaud the Blackburn fans who had travelled to Austria to watch the game.

“Number one, I don’t want to be selling Grant Hanley,” said Coyle, in the wake of Saturday’s friendly. “I’ll say that openly.

“But obviously we can’t stop clubs from admiring our players. It’s the same with me. I admire players at other clubs and you go after them.

“But what I would also say is about Grant Hanley’s valuation as a player – I hold him in very high esteem. I think he is a very, very good player.

“And I think it’s fair to say, in my opinion, they (Newcastle) are nowhere near the valuation of Grant Hanley. I don’t want to lose him.”

When asked whether Hanley had expressed a desire to join Newcastle, Coyle added: “It’s nothing to do with expressing a desire because when all is said and done, Grant Hanley is a player who is under contract at Blackburn Rovers.

“I know the way the world works when agents get to work and such forth. But all I would say is Grant Hanley’s our captain and we don’t want to lose him.

“I totally understand why Newcastle covet him, but as I said before and I’ll repeat it, in my opinion they are nowhere near the valuation which I consider Grant Hanley to be.”

It remains to be seen whether Newcastle lodge a third offer for Hanley, but they should confirm their fifth signing of the summer later today when Hayden completes his move from Arsenal.

The 21-year-old, who can play in defensive midfield or at full-back, is set to sign a five-year deal on Tyneside after Newcastle won the race to acquire his services.

Hull City were also keen to secure a permanent deal for Hayden, having played the youngster on 24 occasions during a loan deal last season.

Hayden is a product of the Arsenal academy and made his senior debut for Arsene Wenger’s side in a League Cup game with West Brom in September 2013. He has made two senior appearances for Arsenal, and is a former team-mate of Rolando Aarons with England Under-20s.

Newcastle signed off a high-profile departure over the weekend as Papiss Cisse joined Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng for an undisclosed fee, which is understood to have been around £4m.

Cisse joined Newcastle in January 2012 from German club SC Freiburg and scored 44 goals in 131 appearances. He will chiefly be remembered for the blistering start to his Newcastle career, which saw him score 13 goals in his first 11 appearances in the Premier League, and the sensational long-range strike that sealed a 2-0 win at Chelsea in May 2012.

“I will be back as a supporter one day,” said Cisse, who penned a two-and-a-half year deal with Shandong Luneng, who are also set to sign Italy international Graziano Pelle from Southampton. “Every goal I scored in that famous number nine shirt was for them (the fans).

“I hope that the team are quickly back in the Premier League. We had some great times together, and hopefully under Rafa those times will return.”

Newcastle’s squad flew to Ireland on Saturday for a pre-season training camp, with Daryl Janmaat, Cheick Tiote, Florian Thauvin and Georginio Wijnaldum all travelling despite ongoing speculation about their future.