MIDDLESBROUGH ARE OPEN to offering Irish international Jeff Hendrick an escape route from Newcastle United.
The42 understands that the Championship club are interested in taking Hendrick on loan until the end of the season, though any potential deal may hinge on Newcastle recruiting another midfielder before the end of the January transfer window.
Newcastle have been heavily linked with a move for Jesse Lingard of Manchester United, as they scramble to strengthen their squad amid a relegation battle and the dwindling days of the transfer window.
Hendrick fell out of favour in the latter months of Steve Bruce’s reign but has hardly featured at all under Eddie Howe. The sum total of his first team action under the new manager has amounted to a meagre 13 minutes as a substitute in a 4-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City.
Hendrick’s only start for Newcastle this season has come in the EFL Cup, which contrasts sharply with his involvement at international level, where he has started six of Ireland’s last seven games.
He has nonetheless travelled with the rest of the Newcastle squad to a winter training camp in Saudi Arabia.
Newcastle’s north-east rivals Middlesbrough have now emerged as a potential destination for Hendrick until the end of the season. Chris Wilder’s side have already taken Aaron Connolly on loan from Brighton until the end of the season along with Folarin Balogun from Arsenal on a similar deal. They are currently hovering on the fringes of the play-off spots in the Championship, one place and two points from Huddersfield, but with a game in hand.