Dan Gosling seems set to join Newcastle United on free transfer

Dan Gosling appears bound for Newcastle United after holding productive talks with officials from St James' Park but no transfer is likely to be announced until his current club, Everton, have appealed against a Premier League tribunal ruling concerning the 20-year-old midfielder. An administrative oversight on Everton's part – who neglected to put a verbal contract offer to Gosling in writing in May – means the Merseysiders are poised to lose a player valued at around £4m on a free transfer. That was the verdict of a Premier League tribunal which ruled Gosling could leave Everton for nothing but the Goodison Park club are expected to lodge an appeal and, should they succeed, would be entitled to compensation. Gosling, who will miss the first three months of the new season due to a knee injury, has attracted interest from Bolton, Sunderland and West Ham but is understood to have agreed to join Newcastle. The versatile midfielder earned £8,000 a week last season but Everton's failure to put their verbal offer of an improved £15,000 a week deal in writing before 30 May made Gosling an attractive commodity. Plymouth, Gosling's first club, are almost as dismayed as Everton having been due a sell-on fee in the event of any future transfer.