NEWCASTLE UNITED have been told to cough up £13.4m to land Arsenal forward Lucas Perez, but know there is stiff competition for his signature.

The Magpies, who impressed Rafael Benitez by defeating Wolfsburg 3-1 in Germany today, have asked the Gunners if they can have him on a season-long loan.

But Arsenal are looking to cash in on a permanent deal, which has left the player and his representatives frustrated so far because he had hoped for a return to Deportivo la Coruna.

Deportivo sold him last year for nearer £20m but are not in a financial position to be able to match the asking price for his services.

That has opened the door for Newcastle to complete a deal if they decide to pay the figure being demanded, although there is also interest in him from elsewhere in Europe.

Perez’s agent Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle said: “Lucas Perez is calm, he has to train and worry about preparing for the season.

“He wants to play, he has said he wants to leave, but we also know that he has a three-year contract with a club that he signed 11 months ago. At least we already have that asking price.

“We consider it high and disproportionate because in the end he is a player who cost Arsenal €21m and now comes after a year in which he has not played much and with a repayment of €5m per year to be distributed over four years.

“It’s important to be clear – it’s impossible that Lucas Perez can go to Deportivo today. To this day the best offer is from Deportivo.

“There is a lot of interest in the French league, the Turkish league, the Premier League and the Bundesliga. It’s normal, we’re talking about an Arsenal player who did not play a lot there but he’s the only one who scored in four competitions.”

Benitez has been told he needs to offload a number of players before he can start to bring in the number of new faces he would still like.

Time is running out before the start of the Premier League season, with Newcastle due to begin life back in the top-flight a week on Sunday against Tottenham.

They won their penultimate friendly against Wolfsburg at the AOK Stadion, ahead of facing Verona at St James’ Park this Sunday.

Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring against Wolfsburg when he converted from the six yard box by getting on the end of Christian Atsu’s cross.

There was still time before half-time for Matt Ritchie to curl in a brilliant free-kick after Atsu had been fouled following a dummy from Mitrovic.

The Serbian striker, who is still expected to leave Newcastle this summer, was replaced at the break and soon after Wolfsburg pulled one back from the spot courtesy of Yunus Malli’s finish.

But with 22 minutes remaining Newcastle restored their two-goal cushion. This time Javier Manquillo’s pass led to Jonjo Shelvey beating his marker and then delivering the pass for Atsu to tap over the line.

NEWCASTLE: Elliot (Darlow 70), Manquillo (Mbemba 70), Lejeune (Lascelles 70), Clark, Dummett (Gamez 70), Ritchie (Murphy 70), Shelvey, Hayden (Merino 70), Atsu (Aarons 70), Perez (de Jong 70), Mitrovic (Diame 46). Subs not used: Colback, Gayle.