SAM Allardyce has confirmed that he is competing with Wanderers in the battle for Tal Ben Haim's signature.

Ever since Allardyce's appointment as Newcastle manager three weeks ago there has been strong speculation that the former Bolton boss will try to tempt the Israeli defender to follow him to Tyneside. Now he has publicly stated his interest.

"I'm interested in any player of quality who wants to move on, so yes I'm interested in Tal Ben Haim," Allardyce said.

"He's a free a free agent and hopefully available. He has three or four years of experience in the Premiership and I know him inside out. We had a good working relationship, we grew in the Premiership together and I'm very interested in working with him again."

Wanderers now know for sure that they are facing an uphill battle to keep the 25-year-old Ben Haim at the Reebok after his current contract expires at the end of this month.

Whites' chairman, Phil Gartside, has made a last-ditch bid to persuade him to stay, knowing it would cost upwards of £5m to find a defender of his calibre on the transfer market.

But Allardyce's confirmation that he wants Ben Haim to become part of his St James' Park revolution suggests it is highly unlikely that he will get the positive response he is hoping for.

The former Bolton boss, who has already raided the Reebok for head of sports science and medicine, Mark Taylor, and is also keen to take his former performance director, Mike Forde, to Newcastle, is in the middle of a whirlwind week on transfer activity.

He has already signed Joey Barton from Manchester City in a £5.5m transfer on a five-year contract believed to be worth £70,000 a week, and has an "agreement in principle" to sign Middlesbrough's out-of-contract Australian striker Mark Viduka.

He also sanctioned the £7m sale of midfielder Scott Parker to West Ham - a deal which was completed yesterday, when the former Magpies' skipper signed a five-year contract with the Hammers.

Wanderers, meanwhile, are reportedly competing with Premiership rivals, Reading and Portsmouth for the signature of Toulouse winger Fode Mansare.

Reports in France claim the 25-year-old Guinea international wants to move to the Premiership after learning that Toulouse are lining up a move for Auxerre's Ivory Coast international, Kanga Akale.