Newcastle 'interested' in Ligue 1 defender who kept Lionel Messi quiet last month - Report

According to Calciomercato, Newcastle are showing interest in Croatian centre-back Duje Caleta-Car.

The report claims that ourselves and West Ham are eyeing a January move for the 25-year-old, who currently plays for Marseille in France.

Caleta-Car featured for his country at EURO 2020, starting in Croatia's 1-0 defeat to England and the extra-time defeat to Spain in the last 16.

Since then, he's been in and out Marseille's side over the first few months of the 2021/22 season, starting six of their 13 league games under Jorge Sampaoli.

That said, he shone in a 0-0 draw with PSG just a few weeks ago - a game which saw him keep Messi, Mbappe and Neymar quiet at the Stade Vélodrome.

He's valued at £16m according to Transfermarkt and has just 18 months remaining on his contract, meaning the Ligue 1 side may be tempted to cash in should a decent offer arrive in January.

Time will tell if there's any truth in this latest transfer rumours, however it does seem pretty clear we'll be in the market for a centre-back in the new year.

Not only are we too one-dimensional at the back - lacking athletic defenders who are comfortable with the ball at their feet - we have the second poorest defence in the league this season, with only Norwich conceding more.