Newcastle are plotting a potential raid for three players from Serie A in January in their bid to escape Premier League relegation, according to reports.
The Magpies are 19th in the Premier League table and are level on points with 20th-place Norwich City, with Newcastle five points adrift from safety.
Steve Bruce was axed as Newcastle manager after a disappointing start to the campaign, with Eddie Howe appointed as the club’s new head coach.
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The Public Investment Fund (PIF) led the consortium that completed the £300m takeover of Newcastle from Mike Ashley in October.
However, the Newcastle owners are prepared to hand Howe funds from their war chest to ensure that the club remain in the Premier League next season.
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According to reports, the Magpies could spend in excess of £200m without breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.
The Times now reports that Inter Milan duo Marcelo Brozovic and Stefan de Vrij are both on Newcastle’s shortlist for January.
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Brozovic, 29, has been with Inter since 2015 and the Croatian defensive midfielder has made 258 appearances for the Serie A club.
Meanwhile, De Vrij is under contract with Inter until 2023 and made 139 appearances during his time at the San Siro.
The 29-year-old Dutch centre-back is valued at around £40m and linked with a reunion with former Inter manager Antonio Conte at Tottenham.
Joining De Vrij and Brozovic on Newcastle’s targets is Lazio shot-stopper Thomas Strakosha, who has made four appearances for the Serie A outfit this season.
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Amanda Staveley, who helped broker the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle, has ensured that Howe will be backed in the upcoming transfer window.
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The Newcastle director told the club’s website: “We are preparing for the January transfer window. It's not a window we would ordinarily want to invest in, because you probably don't get the right deals, but that's something that is important at the moment.
“It would have been an easy decision for us not to buy the club, just to wait until post-Christmas and post the January window and see where the club was in the league, and then make the acquisition.
“That would have been the safe investment bet, but we didn't do that. We decided, if we didn't do it now, it wasn't going to happen and we had to take that risk.
“We took that risk because the club was sitting in 19th position at the time and Eddie took the job knowing there was that risk.”
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