Brentford beat Newcastle to signing of Celtic's Kristoffer Ajer

The Bees have agreed a £13.5m fee with Celtic that will see them shatter their transfer record in order to land the Norway international, who will leave Parkhead after a five-and-a-half year stint in the Scottish Premier League.

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce had identified Ajer as his leading defensive target at the start of the summer, with Magpies officials holding a series of discussions with their counterparts at Celtic.

However, despite Ajer having entered the final year of his contract at Parkhead, the Celtic hierarchy were always confident they could command a significant fee for the defender.

Newcastle’s interest was quickly rebuffed, with Celtic also turning down offers of around £10m from Norwich City and Bayer Leverkusen.

Brentford stepped up their interest at the start of the week, and are understood to have agreed an overall fee and structured payment scheme.

Ajer will now travel to West London to undergo a medical, and provided there are no unforeseen issues, Newcastle’s hopes of adding him to their defensive ranks will have come to an end.