HUDDERSFIELD TOWN are set to complete the permanent signing of Newcastle United outcast Rolando Aarons.

Aarons came close to joining the Terriers in the autumn, only for a proposed transfer to collapse on deadline day.

However, Huddersfield have resurrected their interest in the winger, whose current Magpies contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and are increasingly confident of being able to agree a deal. The two clubs are working on a package that will see Aarons’ Newcastle contract end early, enabling him to join Huddersfield on a permanent basis.

Aarons joined Newcastle in 2012 after he was released by his Bristol City, and made his Premier League debut in August 2014. He has made a total of 27 senior appearances, scoring four goals, but has had five different loan spells in the last four seasons at clubs ranging from Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic to Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League.

His last appearance for Newcastle came in a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in December 2017, and his fate was effectively sealed when he omitted from the 25-man squad list Steve Bruce submitted to the Premier League in October.

That was just days after his proposed move to Huddersfield fell through, but even back then, Terriers chairman Phil Hodgkinson confirmed he was keen to make another move in January.

“We are still confident that he’s the right player,” said Hodgkinson. “He’s our top target and remains so, and what we’d rather do is get through the next ten weeks to January and get it done.”

While Bruce will happily sanction Aarons’ departure, he will be much more reluctant to lose Dwight Gayle, who has been linked with a possible switch to Fulham.

Gayle was an unused substitute as Newcastle lost to Leicester City at the weekend, but has been involved in four of the Magpies’ last six matches, scoring the winner in last month’s 2-1 victory over West Brom.

Like Aarons, Gayle is due to become a free agent in the summer, and Fulham are understood to be offering an incentivised deal that would see Newcastle receive a relatively small sum up front, with a bigger payment dependent on the Cottagers staying up.