Newcastle United continue to cast a wide net when looking for young talent to develop into potential first team players.
Having recently signed a slew of youngsters for the reserves including Serbian defensive midfielder Miodrag Pivas, Paul Mitchell has kept an eye on Serbian talent it seems.
During the week Red Star Belgrade took on Inter Milan in the Champions League falling to a heavy 4-0 defeat.
However, despite the obvious chasm in class, Mitchell's scouting team were impressed with what they saw from 17-year-old Red Star midfielder Andrija Maksimovic.
Maksimovic has only made four senior appearances for Red Star Belgrade but has already garnered a lot of attention from some big clubs.
Newcastle were one of four Premier League clubs with representation there to watch Maksimovic on Tuesday according to Caught Offside, who claimed that Manchester City, Brighton, and Chelsea were also casting their eye on the youngster.
Meanwhile Juventus, Napoli, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, and Borussia Dortmund also hold an interest.
As for how solid the interest is from these sides remains to be seen, but Maksimovic is unlikely to demand too much money in terms of a transfer fee, so it could be a big scrap for his signature.
Maksimovic will have to decide whether he's better served staying at Belgrade for now rather than following the promise of playing for a bigger club which may not work out how he dreamt it.
The left-footed attacking midfielder clearly looks destined for big things and is already facing a potentially massive decision on his future. It's probably too early to speculate on where he'll end up, but it's a name worth keeping an eye on for Newcastle fans.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |