Newcastle United’s new and improved £15m bid for Feyenoord striker Nicolai Jorgensen has been rejected by the Dutch champions, as per Sky Sports News.

£15m is the same amount spent to buy Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers in 1996, and is just £1m shy of the £16m club record transfer signing, bringing Michael Owen to the North East from Real Madrid.

It is believed that for Rafa Benitez to get his hands on Jorgensen, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Feyenoord want a fee in the region of £20m. This latest rejected bid means the Toon will not bring in the striker prior to their FA Cup fourth round tie with Chelsea on Sunday – visit WilliamHill for odds on the game.

Jorgensen was Feyenoord’s top goalscorer last season with 21 as they clinched their first Eredivisie championship this century.

However, Feyenoord are now 5th in this seasons Eredivisie, a huge 16 points behind current leaders PSV Eindhoven. Jorgensen has got seven goals and three assists to his name this campaign.

Benitez is said to be very keen on Jorgensen to strengthen the firepower up top, with the front pairing of Joselu and Ayoze Perez only scoring six times this season, and Aleksandar Mitrovic struggling for minutes this season.

It is believed that now Feyenoord have resigned Robin van Persie, they are willing to let Jorgensen go at the right price, but Benitez is still to be heavily backed financially by Mike Ashley.

This is shown as the only player to come in is Kenedy, on loan from Chelsea until the end of the season.

Newcastle’s failed takeover bid has left them severely short of funds this month and Rafa Benitez has been forced to work with the hand he’s dealt once again.

Mike Ashley is refusing to pump any more cash into the club to fund transfers meaning Newcastle will either have to sell in order to buy players or will have to work within the loan market to see them through till the end of the season.

Kenedy is the first of what could be several loan signings Newcastle make before the transfer window shuts, with Liverpool’s Danny Ings also a potential recruit on a temporary basis.

Ings has suffered season-ending knee injuries in back-to-back seasons but has returned to full fitness and is ready to compete for a potential place in England’s World Cup squad over the second half of the season.

Jurgen Klopp has a settled front three and Ings is competing with Dominic Solanke for playing time as Liverpool’s second choice centre-forward with Daniel Sturridge likely to be offloaded before the window shuts.

Leicester’s club-record signing Islam Slimani is another player on Newcastle’s radar this month but there is believed to be considerable interest from fellow Premier League clubs and clubs further abroad in the Algerian, including the likes of West Ham and Monaco.

Newcastle are in the midst of a relegation dog-fight and their squad is still in desperate need of several fresh faces before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.