Newcastle United 'at the forefront' of race to sign Serie A star

Newcastle United are reportedly ‘at the forefront’ of the race to sign a Serie A defender just says after Eddie Howe admitted the Magpies were experiencing a ‘challenging summer’.

The likes of Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth saw their time at St James Park come to an end earlier this summer and the United hierarchy have also authorised the big money sales of Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon to Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona respectively. There have been incomings with Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure, Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba all agreeing to join the Magpies and they will now hope to make an impact during their first season on Tyneside. The United youth ranks have also been boosted by the signing of young striker Afner Ca following his departure from Spanish club Levante.

Talk of Arsenal’s interest in club captain Bruno Guimaraes has continued to ramp up in recent days - and that has led Howe to stress he does not want to lose his best players as the Premier League champions continue in their unrelenting pursuit of the Brazil international.

Speaking after the pre-season friendly draw at Gateshead, Howe said: "Ideally, we want to grow the team, so we have taken a hit there. We are then trying to replace but due to a financial restraints we are going through a different phase of our recruitment, going very young. Those young players need support and time to develop the skills. They are all exciting talents and have great futures ahead of them but we need to be calm with them. I think it has been a challenging summer for us, losing Sandro and Anthony has been tough. We don't want to lose our best players."

Possible target

There have been some suggestions the Magpies could look to add a young centre-back to their ranks to compete with Sven Botman, Fabian Schar, Malick Thiaw and Dan Burn for a place at the heart of Howe’s defence. Youngster Alex Murphy started the draw with the Heed alongside the returning Schar after Botman picked up an injury in training ahead of the short trip across the Tyne.

One name that has been mentioned as a possible target over the last year is Atalanta’s highly-rated centre-back Giorgio Scalvini and the latest reports in Italy have suggested Newcastle are ‘at the forefront’ in the race for his signature. Tutto Atalanta have reported the Serie A club have to carry out another major sale during the summer transfer window after former Magpies transfer target Ederson saw his move to Manchester United collapse at the eleventh hour. Atalanta have completed the sale of Marco Palestra to Chelsea after the full-back was tentatively linked with a move to Tyneside - and there are reports stating his former team-mate Scalvini remains on the Magpies radar. However, talk of a move for the eight-times capped Italy international has been played down in recent months.

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