Newcastle United briefing: Yasin Ben El-Mhanni to meet club hierarchy over bullying allegation, Chelsea loan option

Peter Beardsley, the club's Under-23 coach, has taken a period of leave while the club investigations a series of allegations made against him.

Meanwhile, United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has been speaking ahead of the visit of his former club Swansea City to St James's Park on Saturday.

And Newcastle forward Adam Armstrong, loaned to Blackburn Rovers for the rest of the season, has spoken about his latest move.

Here's your daily briefing:

Allegations

El-Mhanni is set for a grievance meeting with United officials this afternoon.

The winger made a formal complaint against Beardsley late last year. A number of other players are understood to have given written statements backing the 22-year-old, who made two FA Cup appearances for the club last season.

Beardsley "categorically denies" the allegations.

Meanwhile, defender Lewis Gibson left Newcastle last summer and joined Everton in a deal worth up to £6million.

And the Daily Mail claim Gibson's family "contacted Newcastle in 2016 to raise concerns about Beardsley's treatment of their son".

Relegation battle

Shelvey has spoken about Newcastle United's Premier League predicament.

The 25-year-old, linked with a move to boyhood club West Ham United in this month's transfer window, joined from Swansea in January 2016 in a £12million deal.

Shelvey was relegated that season with United, but he has no regrets about the move.

"Swansea's a great club," said Shelvey, who scored in last weekend's 3-1 FA Cup win over Luton Town.

“It's a great family club. The stadium isn’t the biggest, but the supporters get behind the team.

"As soon as I found out Newcastle were interested, there was only one place to go, but obviously I don’t want to see them go down, because I want to play against them and I have mates in their team.

“But football is a cut-throat business, and I would rather we stayed up than them.

“It's a relegation battle that we're in, and whoever comes out on top will be the worthy winners.”

Loan deals

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is back from holiday, so will the club finally make a move in the transfer market?

Benitez – who last week claimed he was still waiting to know his "exact" budget for this month's window – is impatient.

United manager's is looking closely at the loan market in this month's window.

Benitez is hopeful of signing Chelsea winger Kenedy on a half-season loan, and Newcastle and a number of other Premier League clubs have been alerted to another player's availability.

Meanwhile, United captain Jamaal Lascelles has been voted as the FUN88 player of the month for December.

Lascelles won the award ahead of team-mates Christian Atsu and DeAndre Yedlin after making a positive impact on his return from injury last month.

Reunited

Armstrong has been reunited with Tony Mowbray at Ewood Park, having played under him at Coventry City the season before last.

And the 20-year-old has been speaking his move to Blackburn.