Larsson has been a permanent fixture at Birmingham since 2007

Newcastle have been given permission to speak to Sebastian Larsson after his club Birmingham agreed a fee with their Premier League rivals.

The midfielder, 25, is out of contract in the summer and Blues boss Alex McLeish said a new deal to keep him at St Andrew's has remained unsigned.

"We gave his advisor permission to speak to Newcastle," McLeish revealed.

"We came to a kind of impasse [over a new contract]. I know Seb would like to stay so we'll just have to see."

The right-sided player signed for Blues initially on a one-year loan deal from Arsenal at the start of the 2006/2007 season.

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He impressed during the first half of that season and his move to St Andrew's was made permanent in January 2007 after a £1m fee was agreed with the Gunners.

The Sweden international has scored 23 goals in 154 appearances for Birmingham.

His strike against Sheffield Wednesday in 2007 was named the club's best goal of the 2007/2008 season.

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