PIF keen on 'very talented' 24-year-old centre-back as Sky Sports report Newcastle interest

Newcastle United are still waiting for that vital breakthrough in the Marc Guehi negotiations with Crystal Palace but in the meantime are looking elsewhere should that bid fail.

Not for the first time in the past week, Newcastle have been linked with an interest in RB Leipzig defender Mohamed Simakan with Newcastle credited with an interest in the 24-year-old at the weekend.

Now, Sky Sports Germany's Florian Plettenberg has once again linked the Leipzig man with the Magpies, but at the same time, Fabrizio Romano has suggested that Newcastle's 90% owners, the Saudi PIF, have their sights on Simakan for one of their four Saudi Pro League clubs.

It seems that the PIF are very keen to work with Simakan one way or another and could launch a bid for the man Fabrizio Romano hailed as 'very talented' soon.

Mohamed Simakan is a potential fall-back if the Marc Guehi bid fails

As we reported on Saturday, Simakan has a £65 million release clause at Leipzig which could make things easier for Newcastle in the dying days of the transfer window if things go wrong with Guehi.

Although it's unlikely that we'd jump from a failed big-money bid straight into another one just for the sake of getting a defender over the line. It's more likely that we just wait until January.

Al-Nassr are the Saudi club looking at Simakan, but as with Newcastle, he's seen as a backup option should the deal they're working on fail.

Simakan has been identified as a target for several clubs this summer

The Saudi outfit are working on a deal for Milan Skriniar having agreed the deal with Paris Saint-Germain, however, the player hasn't yet given the thumbs up for the move.

Liverpool had also shown interest in Simakan this summer but ultimately pulled out of a deal.

The versatile Frenchman may retain a spot on Newcastle's watch list in case of a problem with the Guehi deal but we don't foresee him moving to Newcastle this week if we're being honest.