NEWCASTLE will make a £1m bid for striker Michael Bridges before next month's transfer deadline if he proves his fitness with Leeds in pre-season.

The Magpies will be represented during Leeds' warm-up games ahead of their Premiership opener at Elland Road on Sunday, August 17.

Apart from running the rule over their first-day opponents, Newcastle are anxious to assess Bridges' recovery from the cruciate injury which restricted him to only nine appearances last season.

Leeds boss Peter Reid, who sold Bridges for £5.5m four years ago when in charge at Sunderland, has offered him an extension to his contract, which expires next summer.

But North Shields-born Bridges, 25 next month, is hoping a clean bill of health and impressive run of form will prompt boyhood heroes Newcastle to make their move.

If Magpies manager Sir Bobby Robson has any doubts, he may delay lodging a bid until the January transfer window, or wait to the end of the season when Bridges might be a free agent.

Leeds kick off their summer schedule with a trip to Bristol City tomorrow. They then visit York next Wednesday, Burnley a week on Sunday and Hull a fortnight today before taking part in a quadrangular tournament in Ireland, where they will face Aston Villa, managed by former boss David O'Leary, on Saturday, August 9.

Reid's take on either Shelbourne or St. Patrick's the following day in the final or third-place play-off.

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