Newcastle United, Man City and Dortmund 'cast eye' over Serbian wonderkid during impressive Inter display

Newcastle United are reportedly competing with some of European football’s biggest names for the signing of Serbian wonderkid Andrija Maksimovic.

At the age of just 17, Maksimovic has already made six appearances for Red Star this season and provided an assist during his side’s recent recent 4-0 hammering of local rivals Partizan. In a sign of the growing belief the youngster can shine at the highest level, Maksimovic, who can play at right-back and in midfield, was named in the starting eleven for his side’s Champions League game against Serie A giants Inter in midweek and produced a confident display in challenging circumstances as Red Star fell to a 4-0 defeat at the San Siro.

However, the performance was well-timed as Caught Offside have claimed Newcastle, Manchester City, Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea were all said to be monitoring the youngster during the game. The same report suggests Brighton have made the first move for the youngster by lodging an enquiry with Red Star - but also warns additional interest could come from some of the biggest clubs in Europe after stating Juventus, Napoli, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, and Borussia Dortmund are ‘casting admiring glances’ towards the youngster.

The move would be similar to the deal Newcastle completed for Serbian youngster Miodrag Pivas during the summer transfer window. The 19-year-old is currently on a season-long loan at Willem II and made his debut for the Eredivisie club in their recent 2-0 defeat against PSV Eindhoven. Newcastle have also been linked with moves for a number of young players from across Europe and recent reports have suggested the Magpies have seen off competition from the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund to sign Dinamo Tbilisi forward Vakhtang Salia. Although Newcastle are still hoping to make some high-profile additions over the coming transfer windows, sporting director Paul Mitchell has already stressed there could be a pointed effort to target what he described as ‘undervalued talent at a certain age profile’.

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview last month, he said: “There hasn’t been a clear strategic strategy over the last five year to say once we get to this point, can we keep enhancing the team with the same level of investment? I don’t think that was factored into the strategies we had and that is a learning for everyone but I do think we have to be more global in our vision of the players we sign. I think the skill, whether it be personal philosophy or the demands of financial fair play (PSR) has to come into play where you have to find undervalued talent at a certain age profile.

“You look at a lot of the signings this summer, it is of a certain age profile, so there is things we need to assess.There are things we got wrong in our strategy for sure. Me coming in when I did probably wasn’t the best timing for the organisation but what it has done is allow me to witness a process.And now it allows to me to analyse that process and make sure we put the next – ultimately January, next summer, five years down the line – process in place where we can become a sustainable high performer.”