Newcastle United are reportedly ready to make Dusan Vlahovic their first major signing of the January transfer window.
The Fiorentina striker has been in superb form this season with 12 goals across 14 games across all competitions, which included a brace in a thrilling 4-3 win over AC Milan on Saturday.
The Sun reports that the Serie A side would be willing to sell the Serbia international, and that Newcastle sent scouts to watch the 21-year-old in action, as his country sealed a place at next year's World Cup.
Vlahovic has now scored 27 goals Serie A goals in 2021 - the most in any calendar year for a Fiorentina player since 1960.
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It is also the second-best tally across Europe's big five leagues this year - second only to Robert Lewandowski's total of 38 goals for Bayern Munich.
He is valued at £70million, but it is unlikely that Fiorentina will demand such a fee for a player whose contract expires in June 2023 and yet to sign a new deal.
Eddie Howe's side are in desperate need of a player with the Serbian's qualities, as their wait for a first Premier League win of the season continued following a frustrating 3-3 draw at home to Brentford on Saturday.
It meant Newcastle slumped to the bottom of the table after Norwich City secured back-to-back wins by overcoming Southampton 2-1 at Carrow Road.
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In addition to a striker, the Tyneside club want to bring in two full backs, a centre back and a midfielder in the New Year.
Director Amanda Staveley hinted that Newcastle are ready to splash the cash in a bid to propel themselves up the table, but stressed the need to adhere to financial fair play rules.
"We'll need to stick to the rules of the Financial Fair Play rules. We will invest as much as we can, I think everybody knows that," explained Staveley in quotes published by the Daily Star.
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"But we won't just invest in footballers, budgets, transfers - it'll be across the board, everything. We want to make sure we invest at all levels.
"We have to look at the numbers and there are rules and regulations as we talked about, we have to make sure the revenue is coming in, the Premier League has rules on how we invest."
For now, Newcastle's immediate focus will be on getting that all-important first win of the season, which continues with a trip to Arsenal next Saturday.
Topics: Dusan Vlahovic, Serie A, Premier League, Eddie Howe, Fiorentina, Newcastle United