Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce could sign the club's best striker since Alan Shearer in Villareal sensation Gerard Moreno.

What's the story?

According to Italian publication Calciomercato, the Magpies are one of the Premier League sides interested in signing the Spaniard this summer, with West Ham and AS Roma also said to be monitoring his situation.

The best since Alan Shearer

Unless you were watching La Liga football week-in and week-out, then the only real moments you would have seen of Moreno's undoubted quality is in the Europa League's closing stages, when he shone against Arsenal and then netted in the final against Manchester United.

The Spain international bagged seven goals and provided another four assists to fire his side to the trophy, and his performances in the competition were equally reflected in the league too - in total, he scored 30 times last season and also set up another 11.

And that ability to bring his fellow teammates into play make him the kind of all-round striker that could actually work in tandem with Callum Wilson, and not potentially replace him.

Speaking to La Liga Lowdown, Geoff Gillingham said: "Early on, he was in and out of the team, but under Quique, he became more like a 9.5 - like Karim Benzema, and it allowed him to become our goalscorer, but also our playmaker."

Meanwhile, Villarreal president Fernando Roig hailed him as "perfect" and "capable" of adapting to different conditions, which should bode well for his chances of acclimatising to the Premier League and English football in general.

The 29-year-old has been a prolific goal-scorer for a number of seasons now, breaching the ten-goal mark for the past five years, including netting 50 in the past two campaigns alone.

While the likes of Demba Ba and Callum Wilson have had their success on Tyneside, Moreno would arrive at St James' Park as a Europa League winner and someone proven on the biggest stage, just like Shearer was when he won the Premier League title with Blackburn before his move to the Magpies.

And, neither Ba or Wilson ever got anywhere near breaking the 30-goal barrier in their careers like Moreno just did last season, and that's a real testament to the consistency with which the Spaniard played.

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Moreno is as clinical as they come, as well as being a supreme creator of goals himself. It's what makes him Newcastle's best potential striker since Big Al.

Meanwhile, Mike Ashley must sanction a £20m swoop for this "explosive" star...