Newcastle are interested in AC Milan's Franck Kessie, according to Italian outlet SempreMilan.com.

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The midfielder has been a part of first-team plans this season with 17 appearances to his name but that hasn't stopped him from gaining attention from clubs previously, with West Ham amongst those linked.

Now Sempre Milan report that interest from Newcastle has emerged, along with Premier League rivals Arsenal, and that means a transfer battle could be on the cards in the last few days of the transfer window.

The 23-year-old has two years remaining on his contract and cost Milan €20m [£17m], so he would likely be an expensive transfer by Newcastle's standards.

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Midfield weakness

Throughout the transfer window Steve Bruce has claimed that players will not be brought in for the sake of it, and therefore any additions made have his full confidence that they would improve the team.

That should give Nabil Bentaleb belief, but the arrival of the midfielder suggested that Bruce was unhappy with his options in that midfield, yet it is an area he is still exploring.

Along with Kessie, teammate Hakan Calhanoglu has also attracted the attention of the north-east outfit, as did Hamza Choudhury earlier this week.

All of those players share the same thing in common - they're centre-midfielders - and that indicates that the Magpies' boss considers that position a key area of weakness in his squad, even after Bentaleb's arrival.

It is easy to understand why. His team have averaged just 39% possession in the league and only Jonjo Shelvey has made more than one key pass per game this season, with the Longstaff brothers also attracting criticism for their performances against Everton on Tuesday.

Furthermore, not one of Newcastle's four main midfielders, which also includes Isaac Hayden, has achieved a pass accuracy above 80%, and therefore there is a clear lack of quality on the ball amongst that group of players.

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Kessie would improve that considering he has 87% pass accuracy this campaign, but his all-round game is really underline by his average of 1.1 key passes and 1.4 tackles per match in 2019/20, as per WhoScored.

Former Milan manager Vincenzo Montella once described the Cote d'Ivoire international as an "extraordinary player" with "sublime intelligence", and if he can show that at St. James' Park he could be quite a signing.

Meanwhile, a prominent Newcastle journalist has provided an update that will probably delight some Magpies' supporters.