Newcastle eyeing €20m Belgian? - New name linked in search for right winger

Newcastle United have made a right winger a top priority for us in the upcoming summer transfer window, despite the brilliant form of Jacob Murphy this year.

Having made no first-team signings in the last three windows, rumours suggest that there will be a sizeable budget to spend ahead of the new season.

Now, a new name has been added to the list of potential targets who Newcastle could make a move for in the next few months.

Another Belgian winger linked

PSV winger Johan Bakayoko has previously been identified as being on our radar in the last few months and it appears that Belgian attackers are taking our fancy this season.

Bakayoko's international teammate Alexis Saelemaekers is now being linked with a move to the North East according to a report from Italian news outlet Il Messaggero.

Saelemaekers has spent this season on loan at Roma from AC Milan, while former Chelsea man Tammy Abraham went the other way, and has proven to be a key player with 10 goals and assists in his 20 Serie A appearances.

Having suffered an ankle injury early on in the season then returning to a new manager as Claudio Ranieri replaced Daniele De Rossi, both the club and the Belgian have enjoyed an upturn in form which sees them fighting for a top four spot.

Potential bargain but feels unlikely

With the label of being the richest football club in the world the transfer windows are always a difficult time to differentiate between which rumours are to be believed and which are being used to drive up the prices of unwanted players.

One link that could help this rumour to be believed is that the 25-year-old is represented by USG - the same agency as Lewis Miley and Anthony Gordon - but it's still too early to know how serious any interest is.

€20m for Saelemaekers would be a fair deal all things considered, though it isn't exactly the exciting and top quality right winger that fans had been hoping for given the lack of activity in that position.

That said, it wouldn't be out of the question to see us target a bargain deal in this position to allow money to be spent elsewhere given the need for a new goalkeeper, centre back and probably more cover in the midfield as well.