Club already lining up replacement for 22-year-old centre-back amid links to Newcastle

There could potentially be some good news on the horizon as far as Newcastle United finding a new centre-back is concerned.

Eddie Howe is reportedly keen on AC Milan's young German defender Malick Thiaw and even though Thiaw's agent is said to be meeting with other Premier League clubs to discuss a potential move, Newcastle remain hopeful they will be at the front of the queue.

Now La Gazetta dello Sport are reporting that AC Milan are already lining up potential replacements in case of Thiaw's departure.

Milan are looking at Strahinja Pavlovic from Salzburg to fill the void that would be left by Thiaw.

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Newcastle and Milan discussed Kieran Trippier

Of course, this doesn't mean that Thiaw is definitely leaving Milan or that his destination would be Newcastle if he does, but it's still a positive sign that something could be in the offing.

Newcastle and Milan have held discussions around transfer deals already this summer with the Magpies offering up Kieran Trippier to Milan while discussing a potential move for Thiaw.

Milan don't seem too keen on Trippier, but the talk around Thiaw refuses to go away.

Malick Thiaw could still turn out to be a smokescreen

What we would say, however, is that it's not often a player who has been linked so often in the media actually appears as a genuine target.

Last year it was all about is getting Nicolo Barella until suddenly we'd signed Sandro Tonali. The club are experts at making us look one way while doing something behind our backs, so as good as Thiaw would be, and he definitely would be, we'd not be shocked if we landed somebody else we haven't even discussed.

We have our fingers crossed that this is one of those rare occasions like Sven Botman where a lengthy pursuit played out in the media actually comes off.