Newcastle 'interested' in signing Roma attacker - Player keen on the move - Sky Sports

According to Sky Sports' Italian correspondent Gianluca Di Marzio, Newcastle have now expressed an interest in signing Roma forward Gregoire Defrel - and it's claimed that he's keen on a move to the Premier League.

The 27-year-old only joined Roma last summer - signing on loan with an obligation to buy for £13.5m - however he's not had the best of seasons with the Champions League semi-finalists, scoring just once in 15 appearances so far.

That being said, his form in Italy had been decent prior to his move to Roma, bagging 32 goals and 17 assists across his last three seasons with Sassuolo and Ceseana - not that it makes him remotely proven at Premier League level.

The rumour comes from Gianluca Di Marzio - Italy's Sky Sports reporter who covers all the transfer gossip in Serie A.

https://twitter.com/NUFC360/status/1019531085959630848

Interestingly, Rome-based reporter John Solano has added fuel to the fire as far as this new link is concerned, admitting in his latest tweet below that the Frenchman would open to the idea of trying his hand in England - suggesting he'd be keen on a move to NUFC:

https://twitter.com/Solano_56/status/1019359381975158784

Not a player that's been linked before and someone I know little about, but Benitez will have great contacts in Italy and will be scouring the market for anything he can get - so I wouldn't be surprised if this had something in it.

Here's him in action: