£42m Newcastle United transfer target spotted at St James' Park ahead of Man City clash

Kalvin Phillips has been named on the bench for Manchester City at Newcastle United this evening.

The midfielder is set to leave the club this month after struggling to get regular first-team minutes since his £42million transfer from Leeds United in 2022. He has been named on the bench alongside Kevin De Bruyne, who could make his first Premier League appearance since the opening day of the season.

Newcastle are understood to be the front-runners to sign Phillips on loan from City this month after Juventus' interest cooled. But no formal offer has been made by The Magpies, with a requested £7.5million loan fee posing issues.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola was asked about Phillips' future in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to St James' Park.

The Spaniard said: "No [enquiries] he's still a player of us, our player."

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe has been consistent in playing down any transfer expectations this month.

"We're not shutting the door on everything," Howe said. "But certainly as I sit here now, no we're not going to bring anyone in. But that may change as the window unfolds."

But when asked about potential loan deals this month, Howe added: I think there's a lot of value. Whether it's value that we can utilise is something totally different.

"I'm not sure there's many clubs out there that are willing to help us currently. To agree a loan deal, you need the club to agree to that deal so we're in that moment where I'm not sure we have many friends in the market."

Newcastle United starting XI v Manchester City: Dubravka; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Guimaraes, Longstaff, Miley; Almiron, Gordon, Isak Newcastle United substitutes: Karius, Gillespie, Dummett, Lascelles, Ritchie, Krafth, Hall, A.Murphy, Parkinson

Manchester City starting XI v Newcastle United: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Gvardiol, Ake; Kovacic, Rodri; Silva, Foden, Doku; Alvarez

Manchester City subs: Ortega, Phillips, Grealish, De Bruyne, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb, Susoho, Lewis