Report: Newcastle to battle Europe's top clubs for £30m defender from Bayer Leverkusen

Newcastle United are determined to add numbers to their backline this summer after suffering with a lack of quality at the back this season.

The Magpies were hit with an unnatural amount of injuries this season and quite often it was our defence that paid the price. Very rarely was our rock solid defence from the previous season together on the pitch and it showed in the number of goals we conceded. Fortunately, as leaky as we were at the back we were more deadly up top.

Now with the summer transfer window looming, Newcastle are making moves to add numbers to the back with Lloyd Kelly and Tosin Adarabioyo heavily tipped to join in the coming weeks, as well as plenty of speculation over a new goalkeeper.

Now, CaughtOffside are claiming that Newcastle could join Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in pursuit of 23-year-old Ivory Coast international Odilon Kossounou from Bayer Leverkusen.

Xabi Alonso kept Kossounou on the bench for a run of games after his AFCON return

It's expected Leverkusen will want somewhere between €30m-€35m (£25m-£30m) for the centre-back's services which sounds like a bargain if he's as good as his admirers suggest.

Leverkusen have offered Kossounou a contract extension, but the player has yet to respond giving off an indication he may be open to leaving.

It could be to do with the fact he struggled to get back into the starting eleven after representing Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations, but given Leverkusen's form this season we can see why Xabi Alonso would have been reluctant to change things up when the team is on a roll.

Kossounou was part of the unbeaten Leverkusen side

On Leverkusen's form, it's definitely worth mentioning that Kossounou was obviously a part of their invincible season in which they didn't lose a game in Germany all year, only losing once in the entire season and that was in the final of the Europa League.

Looking at the calibre of the other teams chasing him, it's clear he's a top, top player but that also means that Newcastle's chances of landing him are pretty slim.

All the other interested sides can offer European football of some description whereas we can only offer the promise of things to come. Who knows, though? It may be enough. It worked on Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak.