JOSE Enrique’s future will be decided by the end of the week, with Liverpool and Arsenal poised to battle it out for the in-demand Newcastle United full-back.

But while Alan Pardew has been offered an opportunity to sign Manchester City’s Wayne Bridge, the Magpies manager will look elsewhere in an attempt to replace the Spaniard.

Having entered the final year of his current deal on Friday, Enrique is due to link up with the rest of the Newcastle squad for the first day of pre-season training later today. However, the chances of him still being a Magpies player when they play their opening friendly at Darlington a week on Friday now appear remote.

The left-back has been the subject of considerable interest all summer, but things stepped up a gear at the end of last week when Arsenal admitted defeat in their attempt to keep Gael Clichy.

Clichy will turn down an offer to move to Anfield in order to join Manchester City, meaning both Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger are on the look-out for a new left-back.

Dalglish identified Enrique as a leading target towards the end of last season, and is expected to make a formal offer for the Spaniard within the next 48 hours.

Ideally, he would like to have Enrique on board before Liverpool’s players start pre-season training, but competing interest from Wenger could yet complicate matters.

Having failed to keep Clichy at the Emirates, Wenger accepts a need to secure a tried-and-tested replacement quickly, and sources in London claim the Frenchman has instructed Arsenal officials to pursue Enrique vigorously this week.

While Pardew has publicly expressed a desire to keep the Spanish left-back on Tyneside, privately he has accepted that he will lose his services.

However, the prospect of Liverpool and Arsenal entering into a bidding war for the 25-year-old represents something of a best-case scenario for the Magpies boss, who has already stepped up his own search for a replacement.

Pardew thought he had signed Swansea left-back Neil Taylor for £1m last month, but the Welshman’s contract situation has seriously complicated matters.

Talks remain ongoing, but Newcastle have placed their negotiations into the hands of their lawyers, and at this stage, a swift resolution looks unlikely.

Whatever happens, the Magpies will not be increasing their £1m offer, so Pardew, who has already made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Toulouse’s Cheik M’Bengue since the end of last season, is exploring alternative options.

He has been offered an opportunity to sign Bridge, either permanently or on loan, but has shown little desire to push through a deal.

Bridge’s wages, which are understood to run to around £80,000-a-week, are a major stumbling block, even if City offer to pay up to half of them just to get the former England international off their books.

At the age of 30, the former Chelsea defender does not fit the model that Mike Ashley is looking to follow, and while the arrival of Sol Campbell last summer proved the Magpies owner is willing to make an occasional exception, a move for Bridge is extremely unlikely.