Newcastle fear PL rivals are plotting against club as Toon eye Bundesliga midfielder – Report

According to The Mail’s Craig Hope, there is ‘little optimism’ that Premier League clubs will be willing to do business with Newcastle this month, forcing us to look elsewhere for potential signings.

Interest has been shown in Wolves’ Ruben Neves, Youri Tielemans of Leicester, Manchester United’s Scott McTominay and Chelsea duo Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

However, all of the above are unwilling to do January business with us, particularly with regards to loan deals – perhaps due to our Saudi Arabia links or the fact we are a top four rival for two of those clubs.

As an alternative, Newcastle may be forced to look to the continent for reinforcements, which bring us to Borussia Monchengladbach’s Kouadio Kone.

Hope reports that the 21-year-old is on our list of targets, with the Frenchman one of the most exciting young midfielders in the Bundesliga right now.

Eddie Howe is believed to prefer Premier League proven players, feeling they’d be more likely to make an immediate impact, but you only have to look at Bruno Guimaraes’ arrival this time last year to know that’s not always the case!