Report: Newcastle leading the way in the hunt for 27-year-old Premier League defender

Happy Transfer Window Opening Day to all who celebrate. Oh and Happy New Year too.

The transfer window is officially open which means Eddie Howe can start bringing in the reinforcements he so desperately needs. It would have been nice if he'd had one or two ready to go straight away, but it is what it is.

Areas Newcastle need to improve are varied and vast but one spot that a new face is sorely needed is central defence. This season we lost Sven Botman for a lengthy period of time which was a huge cause for concern. Although, in fairness, Jamaal Lascelles stepped in and did an extremely admirable job.

Newcastle could turn their attention back to Crystal Palace

Lascelles' form hasn't removed Newcastle's want for a new defender though and The Daily Mirror (via Caught Offside) are now claiming that the Magpies will re-visit their interest in Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen.

The 27-year-old Danish international was reportedly high on Newcastle's wanted list in the summer but Palace were demanding too much money at the time. It turned out to be a good gamble by them as Andersen has been in amazing form for Palace this season.

Now that the window is open though, it's expected Newcastle will try once again, but The Mirror are claiming that the defender is now valued at £60million which is an eye-watering sum of money, especially given we only bid £30million in the summer.

We shouldn't be expecting miracles in the January window

With that £60million fee in mind, it's unlikely that this one has any legs. If the price has been inflated to make the story have more punch and Newcastle could pick up Andersen for around the £30-35 million mark then maybe we could see it happening.

The club has already got their FFP excuses in early so it's unlikely we'll see any lavish spending in January, but we should definitely be making good use of the loan market.

We can't believe it's 10 am at the time of writing and we've not even signed anyone yet. Gah!