STEVE McCLAREN has put £15m-rated Dutchman Georgino Wijnaldum on his summer transfer wish-list after taking over at Newcastle United.

Wijnaldum skippered PSV Eindhoven to the Eredivisie title last season and will not be short of options with an extensive list of top European clubs all interested in him.

But McClaren has identified the 24-year-old, who was part of Holland's World Cup squad last summer, as someone he would like pursued this summer, although there is an acceptance that the Magpies will have to move quickly to get a deal done.

Manchester United and Liverpool are known to be two of the English clubs known to be keen, while there is also further options for PSV to explore on the continent should they wish to sell.

PSV would prefer not to cash in, but if the right deal arrives then it will be difficult for them to keep hold of a player who outlined recently that he would be open to leaving with the Premier League an attractive destination for him.

Speaking last month Wijnaldum said: “I am happy at PSV but I am a player with a lot of ambition. I want to play in a stronger league than the Eredivisie. With my quality I feel I can bring a lot to a team that I will join. I want to show it in the big leagues; England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

“It depends on how I feel. When I feel I want to go, I will do it. It is difficult to say when I want to go, if a great club come in for me then I will think about it. Being the captain does not affect my decision. There is no guarantee that I will stay because I am captain.”

McClaren’s contacts in Holland are extensive and coincide with chief scout Graham Carr also knowing that particularly division really well. The pair’s relationship led to McClaren actually recommending Cheik Tiote to Carr during his time in charge of Twente.

He had two spells in charge of Twente and even during his time at Middlesbrough there was a strong Dutch connection to the squad he assembled at the Riverside, with the likes of Bolo Zenden, Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink and George Boateng forming part of his playing pool.

While McClaren is closing in on Queens Park Rangers’ England new-boy Charlie Austin, who could earn his first cap against Slovenia tomorrow, he is also looking at strengthening other areas of the squad and Wijnaldum would be the preferred choice to play that role if a deal could be done.

Newcastle’s new head coach has also instructed managing director Lee Charnley to work on reaching an agreement for Wolfsburg front-man Bas Dost and an early breakthrough on the transfer front is wanted in the hope of sending out a positive message to supporters.

McClaren has left the recruitment of Paul Simpson to his backroom team to Charnley. Simpson is still on the pay-roll at Derby County but is the man from the iPro Stadium he would like to have with him, which presents something of a compensation problem.

Newcastle are unwilling to pay for Simpson to make the switch, so it will be left in the hands of the Rams and Simpson to reach an agreement if the former Carlisle boss wants to be reunited with McClaren on Tyneside.

Simpson would not become the number two. McClaren is still considering his options for the assistant’s position and he is looking for a young and enthusiastic coach with the right character and CV to gain the respect of the dressing room instantly.

Newcastle defender Paul Dummett, meanwhile, was forced to pull out of Wales’ Euro 2016 qualifier with Belgium last night because of hamstring trouble. It is the same injury which prevented him from playing towards the back end of the Premier League campaign.