Newcastle United have an interest in Celtic star Kristoffer Ajer but there are a clutch of Premier League rivals jockeying for position ahead of a summer battle for the centre-back.
The 23-year-old's potential arrival places a serious question mark over French defender Florian Lejeune's position next season.
Lejeune is currently enjoying a season-long loan deal at Alaves who with the La Liga club open to talks about a permanent deal.
Newcastle could see Federico Fernandez out of contract at the end of the season too and may need extra cover while Paul Dummett - currently playing as a central defender - is also waiting to hear if the club have decided to extend his deal.
Lejeune has another year left of his Newcastle contract but was sent on loan by Steve Bruce last summer.
Ajer will be out of contract at the end of next season but can start talking to clubs outside of the Scottish Premiership from January.
However, an £8million summer fee has been bandied about in recent times.
Former Toon star Lee Clark has managed Ajer before and told the Daily Record in March: "With my Newcastle United fans head on I hope that happens! My mates have all been asking me about him since he was mentioned and I told them if it comes off we’ll be getting a real top player.
"But I’m not sure we’re in the market for a player of his value with the money that would be involved to land a player of his ability."
When asked about his credentials, Clark said: "Kris has got all the attributes to play at the very top and I’m not surprised when I see him linked with the biggest clubs in Europe, whether that’s down here in England or Italy."
