Toon fans handed chance to scout £45m man tonight after player opens door to summer move

If the truth be told, there'll be a lot of Newcastle United fans who knew very little about Sven Botman prior to our January interest in the Dutch defender.

He's highly-rated in France and making a name for himself on the international stage too, but he's yet to face English opposition - something that's set to change come 8pm tonight.

After we had a series of bids rejected by Lille last month, the 6ft 4' centre-back is in England as we speak and set to face Chelsea in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

He'll be coming up against the current holders at Stamford Bridge, with the first leg available to watch on BT Sport 2 from 7pm (kick off is at 8pm).

Since the transfer window slammed shut, he's scored in a 5-1 defeat against PSG and helped Lille two clean sheets since then, with The Chronicle reporting that Toon scouts were in the stands to watch their 0-0 draw with Metz over the weekend.

So, with us clearly still keen on the 22-year-old and a new bid expected should we stay up, tonight's game could be well worth a watch for Toon fans!

Here's what Botman had to say about interest from ourselves and AC Milan when speaking to the press last month, seeing him do little to play down a potential summer move to St James' Park:

“I will continue here at Lille OSC and play in the Champions League against Lukaku and this Sunday against Messi, not bad at all.

“But this will be my last months at Lille OSC.”

“I can confirm both Newcastle and AC Milan were concrete options this winter.

“Both were good options for me. I will take a good step in my career next summer”.

“Everyone says about Newcastle: it’s all about money. But it’s a very nice project.

“If you look at where Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain started. I think it would be very nice to be part of that, but of course Milan is also a beautiful club”