Newcastle have stepped up scouting around £40m Chelsea midfielder ahead of summer transfer window

Newcastle United continue to work behind the scenes identifying and scouting targets ahead of the summer transfer window.

There are several positions that need addressing, some more pressing than others, but one area you'd think Eddie Howe would be relatively happy with his options would be in midfield.

With Bruno Guimaraes in the middle and a wealth of options around him (when fit), we've got the middle of the park nailed down. Sandro Tonali is due back from suspension next season, Joelinton has just confirmed he's staying on Tyneside by signing a new deal. We've got Elliot Anderson looking fantastic, Joe Willock should be fit again next season, and of course, Lewis Miley who has done a phenomenal job in his debut season. That's not to mention Sean Longstaff who hasn't been at his best in this campaign but has been playing through injury for a large part of it.

However, despite all that talent, The Chronicle is reporting that Newcastle have stepped up their scouting of Chelsea and England midfielder Conor Gallagher.

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Newcastle were persistently linked with Conor Gallagher last summer

Gallagher has been on Newcastle's radar for a while now and in the summer his Chelsea future was uncertain and many clubs were circling, but Mauricio Pochettino has clearly taken a shine to him.

Given that Chelsea didn't win 18 trophies this season, Pochettino's job is on the line at Chelsea because you know, they're a normal, stable club. So that could be good news for Newcastle if they are serious about prising Gallagher away from Stamford Bridge.

The more pressing matter, however, is that Chelsea and Gallagher's recent contract talks have broken down which is providing an opening with quite a few clubs' representatives in the stands watching the England man in action against Manchester United recently.

Does Gallagher improve what we already have?

Gallagher is an interesting one. At times he can look almost world-class, but most of the time he's bang average, maybe even worse than average.

We're not sure he'd really add anything to our squad in terms of improvement unless there were a couple of the aforementioned midfielders set for the chop.

That being said, picking up an England international for around £40million, which is the quoted figure, would be a good move, and doing so ahead of Tottenham and West Ham who are also interested certainly would be advantageous.

Also, we said a similar thing about Anthony Gordon, and look how wrong we were about that.