Newcastle United have their sights set on 6'4" defender after £55m Anthony Elanga bid was accepted

Newcastle United have started to make a breakthrough in the transfer market this summer with a bid for Anthony Elanga reportedly having been accepted and a move for James Trafford also moving forward.

It has taken a while and Newcastle fans have seen several players linked with the club move elsewhere, adding to that frustration, but things finally appear to be moving in the right direction.

With moves for Trafford and Elanga looking like they will get done, the Magpies still want to bring in a central defender and potentially another centre forward.

Newcastle have been looking for a defender to succeed Fabian Schar for a while now and tried to sign Marc Guehi last summer only for the deal to fall apart at the 11th hour.

Newcastle want £30m-rated Giorgio Scalvini

There's still interest there by Newcastle for Guehi, but he no longer feels like the main priority, and now The Times have claimed that Italian defender Giorgio Scalvini is Eddie Howe's top defensive target.

Newcastle are prepared to take a risk on the 21-year-old Italy international after an injury-hit season which saw him make just eight appearances for Atalanta. But Newcastle took that risk with Tino Livramento who had a similar injury issue and that worked out well.

Scalvini was kept out of much of the season with an ACL injury, and then a shoulder injury, but Newcastle clearly feels these won't be recurring issues and are preparing a bid for the £30 million-rated defender.

Newcastle could have a very youthful look to their back line next season

The Italian national side saw the potential in Scalvini with the defender making his senior debut at 18, and let's be honest, Italians know a thing or two about defending.

The giant defender sounds like the perfect long-term partner for Sven Botman in Newcastle's defence and could be part of a very young, exciting defensive lineup next season consisting of Tino Livramento, Scalvini, Botman and Lewis Hall playing in front of James Trafford.

You'd imagine that there'd still be plenty of opportunities for the likes of Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and even Jamaal Lascelles to get some minutes as there will be times when experience will be required, but the addition of Scalvini would make for exciting times.