Newcastle United still keen on 'Swedish Messi' as he nears return to action following cruciate ligament injury

Newcastle United will be one of several Premier League sides monitoring the progress of exciting Swedish star Roony Bardghji when he returns from a long injury layoff.

The Magpies have been keen on Roony Bardghji for a while, but their pursuit of the 19-year-old was put on hold when he picked up a cruciate ligament tear, which still has him ruled out until later this month.

At one point, Callum Wilson was spotted in training alongside Bardghji while the duo were at the same rehab facility earlier this season, hopefully, Wilson was putting in a good word.

Now that Bardghji is close to a return to action, Premier League scouts are packing their bags and heading to Copenhagen to watch his progress.

The Boot Room are reporting that Chelsea, Tottenham Aston Villa, Brighton and Manchester United are keen on the youngster, while many clubs around Europe, including Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Atalanta and Marseille are looking at him too.

TBR suggests that Chelsea are leading the way right now, and to be fair, they do have a solid record of convincing promising youngsters to join them.

However, Newcastle are getting pretty good at it too, with them looking likely to beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to the signing of Antonio Cordero.

Alexander Isak could be Newcastle's ace in the hole

After being dubbed 'the Swedish Messi', you'd expect there to be plenty of interest in the youngster.

With a bit of luck, Callum Wilson laid the groundwork earlier this season, and we can deploy our secret weapon - Alexander Isak - to convince the young Swede to join the Magpies.

It's going to be an intense battle in the summer, provided the injury hasn't affected his game too much.