Newcastle enter race for 18-year-old French wonderkid being tracked by trio of other PL clubs

Newcastle United have reportedly joined Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United in their interest in young French forward.

FC Lorient's Eli Junior Kroupi seems to have caught the eye of several Premier League clubs with Newcastle now adding their name to the list.

The 18-year-old has been attracting interest from many top clubs with PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City also having been credited with interest at some point according to ontheminute.com.

There has been no indication yet as to whether or not any of the aforementioned clubs have gone as far as making an approach or indeed what the cost would be if they had.

Eli Junior Kroupi is coming off the back of his breakthrough season for FC Lorient

Eli Junior Kroupi made 31 first-team appearances for Lorient last season, although his longest spell on the pitch was 69 minutes with the youngster mostly being used as substitute.

He still managed to find the net five times and provided three assists with fewer than 1200 minutes of game time under his belt.

Primarily a centre-forward, Kroupi Jr can play as an attacking midfielder or out on the left wing.

There are shades of Hugo Ekitike about this one

Newcastle have been looking for a young forward that they can develop into a star since the takeover with another young Frenchman famously close to a move two summers ago - Hugo Ekitike.

Looking at Kroupi Jr's highlights there are clear similarities between him and Ekitike, both are quick with excellent ball control and an eye for goal.

Hopefully, Kroupi Jr won't get too caught up in his own hype and ruin his career like Ekitke has.