Newcastle United have had a phenomenal start to their first full Premier League campaign with Eddie Howe in charge, and are currently fourth in the league table as a result of their fantastic form.

The Magpies have snapped up a Champions League spot following an eight-game unbeaten run in the top flight and are showing no signs of slowing down following their most recent 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at St James' Park last weekend.

Howe is certainly exceeding the expectations for Newcastle this season at present, however, now the team, supporters and manager have had a taste of what can happen when they're in incredible form they won't want to drop off in the second half of the season.

As a result, it would be no surprise if the Tyneside club reinvest again in the January transfer window to continue to dominate opponents over the business end of the campaign.

One player who has recently been linked with a move to the Toon is Brighton and Hove Albion forward Leandro Trossard, with the Northern Echo claiming that the recruitment team are ready to swoop for the player in January.

Miguel Almiron is in impeccable form of late, scoring six of his seven goals in the last half a dozen outings for Newcastle, but if the club are looking to the future and wants to guarantee consistency on the right flank then Dan Ashworth must sanction a move for Trossard.

The £60k-per-week ace - who is "doing major bits" in the words of Rio Ferdinand - has been a key player in Brighton's promising start to the season with seven goals and one assist over 12 league appearances which has contributed to Brighton's league placement in eighth.

Not only that, the Belgian attacker ranks in the top 10% of his positional peers across the top five European leagues for progressive passes, interceptions and blocks, proving that he is comfortable going into challenges to win the ball alongside his natural creative abilities in the final third.

When you compare Almiron with Trossard over a longer period of time, it is clear that despite the talented Paraguayan's newfound consistency, the Brighton star has been performing at a higher level for much longer than his potential teammate.

Trossard outperformed the Newcastle attacker in many attributes including goals scored (8 v 1), shot-creating actions per 90 (3.53 v 2.57), shots on target rate (35.6% v 21.9%) and dribble success rate (70% v 66.7%).

With that being said, it will be interesting to see if Howe is willing to replace Almiron this January given the form he is in currently.

However, for the sake of long-term consistency, the signing of Trossard would ultimately deliver more reliability and attacking depth to Newcastle's already impressive forward line.