Jan Ziółkowski being monitored by Newcastle as scouts head to Roma - Report

Jan Ziółkowski is the latest centre back being linked with a summer switch to Newcastle United as the Magpies look to bolster their defence.

One area of Newcastle's squad that is in desperate need of an overhaul is the defence. 

It was one of the first things identified by Ross Wilson after he joined as sporting director. It wasn't so much to do with the quality of the players in the squad, but more to do with age.

At centre-back, only Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman were under 30, and even at full-back, Newcastle had Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth, both over 30, so it makes sense that in the summer, Wilson will be looking for younger backup for our main centre-back pairing.

On Wednesday, Newcastle were rumoured to be interested in Portuguese centre-back Tiago Gabriel, who plays for Lecce in Serie A, but now it seems he's not the only Serie A defender on the Magpies' radar.

Newcastle have been scouting Jan Ziółkowski

According to the Polish outlet, Sport.PL, Newcastle are among a host of interested parties in AS Roma's Polish centre back Jan Ziółkowski, whose career is stalling at the Italian club. 

They claim that scouts from England have been watching the Polish defender recently, and name Newcastle in their report as one of the interested parties eyeing the 20-year-old.

Hailed as one of the Poland's greatest young hopes, Ziółkowski played only 40 minutes across February and March, seeing tensions behind the scenes grow regarding his path to first-team football.

That tension seems to have had a knock-on effect on the Pole's career, and it's reported that he could now move on this summer as a result.

Jan Ziółkowski is contracted to Roma until 2030 after signing for €6 million (£5.1m) in the summer, and the Italian's may be looking to make a quick profit on the youngster.

There's something to this one

Fortunately, the report clarifies that Ziółkowski is training well and hasn't been dropped for any reason to do with his performances, so if it turns out that Newcastle is interested, they're not chasing a dud.

It seems the report's biggest concern right now is that Ziółkowski's lack of minutes could be keeping him out of the Polish national side, where they clearly feel he belongs.

Ziółkowski has plenty of admirers around Europe, but Newcastle is the only club mentioned by name, which could mean one of two things. Our interest is genuine, and we're showing more intent than anyone else, or Sport.pl is using our name to drum up more interest, which we've seen happen a lot since the takeover.

Rumour Rating: 7/10 - This one sounds highly plausible. Jan Ziółkowski fits the bill for Newcastle. He's young with a high ceiling; he's a bit under the radar but has experience playing in Europe and at a high level in league competition. He's not likely to break the bank either. Our big concern is that the story is coming from a Polish source rather than England or Italy. National media tends to exaggerate its own players' capabilities and try to manifest the best for them, so they could just be trying to raise his profile and using Newcastle to do it.