Report: Newcastle now 'pushing ahead' of other clubs in race for £68m defender

Eddie Howe is going to be very busy this summer as he looks to find new players to strengthen his Newcastle United squad.

There are several key positions that already needed strengthening, but in a cruel twist of fate, Eddie Howe's priorities will have shifted following the need for two centre-backs to undergo surgery on their ACL within the space of a month.

Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman will now not be expected to return to action until at least Christmas which means that Newcastle will need to delve into the transfer market to bring in cover.

There was already a need for another option in central defence, but we could now be looking at possibly needing to bring in two players for that position.

Newcastle don't want to pay the £68m release clause for Diomande

One player Newcastle have their eye on is Sporting's Ousmane Diomande who is attracting a lot of interest from the Premier League and Europe with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Juventus all keeping tabs on him.

However, Portuguese outlet A Bola (via Sports Witness) are claiming that Newcastle are pushing ahead of their Premier League rivals in pursuit of the 20-year-old Ivorian.

Diomande has a €80million (£68.7million) release clause which Newcastle have been trying to avoid triggering by going in with lower bids, but Sporting are hoping that other clubs could come in and create a bidding war which will see the price rise closer to the release clause amount.

Zero injuries this season makes Diomande a very promising prospect for Newcastle

The Ivory Coast international has made 34 appearances in all competitions for Sporting this season even scoring three goals and providing one assist.

One key thing to note is that he's not missed a single game through injury, something that will be vital when looking at new recruits this summer. The games he has missed were due to taking part in the African Cup of Nations.

Diomande is one of two Sporting players who have caught Newcastle's eye with a double swoop often mooted for Diomande and Goncalo Inacio.