Crystal Palace boss Pardew looking to transfer Newcastle defender [UPDATE]

Transfer Deadline Day brings funny rumors and stories that don't necessarily make sense, but with Newcastle United you just never really know if decisions are made within the constraints of "making sense".  The latest rumor from The Chronicle is suggesting that former boss Alan Pardew is readying a bid for a former favorite of his from his time at St. James' Park.

Paul Dummett was preferred by Pardew to the point that Massadio Haïdara was excluded from the squad more often than not, while it appears that Steve McClaren sees things exactly opposite.  The number being linked to this rumor is £8m, which seems a lot for Dummett and could be the first stress point at which this rumor could break down.  The assertion is that there was interest from Pardew and Palace but they needed to "clear the books" in order to help the deal make sense to the bean counters.  The reality is that the Palace end is only part of the deal.

As things stand at Newcastle United presently, thinning out the defense by sending Dummett (who can play both LB and provide depth at CB) away doesn't make any sense at all.  There is the small matter of Jetro Willems' repeated sightings at St. James' Park to complicate things slightly, however.  It was hard for the unimaginative among us (myself, mostly) to figure out how a pursuit of Willems made sense as we looked set at LB with Haïdara and Dummett.  If Dummet was moved on to Palace and for the £8m reported, it would cover most of the cost for bringing Willems to the club and could be a move that makes sense for everyone involved, although it would probably hamstring any avenue for Mike Williamson to leave the club in this window as the club would lose the aforementioned CB depth.

It seems unlikely at this point as these are all just rumblings, but unlike so many rumors that crop up on Deadline Day, there is a plausible scenario in which this particular one could become reality.

UPDATE (10:30AM CDT): According to the Chronicle's Lee Ryder, Newcastle is resisting all advances on Dummett from Crystal Palace. It looks like we will have a utility defender in our squad after all.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Newcastle United transfers: Crystal Palace move for Paul Dummett resisted by Magpies <a href="http://t.co/lBrpNbkIbl">http://t.co/lBrpNbkIbl</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NUFC?src=hash">#NUFC</a></p>&mdash; Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) <a href="https://twitter.com/lee_ryder/status/638733692052094977">September 1, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>