Newcastle United and Southampton have approached Chelsea with an enquiry about midfielder Danny Drinkwater, according to TeamTalk.
The news outlet claims that Leicester and Crystal Palace are also in the hunt to sign the 28-year-old England international, who signed for Chelsea for £35million on deadline day last summer and has since made just 22 appearances in all competitions.
The Blues have now signed Jorginho this summer, and it seems as though that could push Drinkwater further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.
According to statistics website Spotrac, the midfielder earns £120,000-a-week on his deal with Premier League giants Chelsea.
Good move for Newcastle?
Drinkwater is certainly a good player, but he is not good enough for a top-six Premier League team.
Chelsea massively overspent on the former Leicester player last year and it is no surprise that he has not played that many games for them since.
The three-times England international would still be a quality signing for Newcastle though if they are able to sign him up by the end of the summer transfer window.
However he is maybe too similar of a player to Jonjo Shelvey, so signing a player on such big wages for someone who essentially not needed would not make a lot of sense when other positions need bolstering first.
This is Futbol rating 8/10
Likely to happen?
As soon as Aleksandar Mitrovic’s move to Fulham is completed, Newcastle will have a nice boost to their bank balance.
However it is more than likely that Rafa Benitez will use most of that cash to strengthen his strikeforce and maybe find a new centre-back after Florian Lejune was hit with a long-term injury.
Drinkwater would be good, but it would be a very expensive signing that Newcastle simply would not be able to afford.
This is Futbol rating 1/10