Rumours of Newcastle United's interest in Kevin Zenon hotting up - Could it be the end of £39m winger?

For a while now Newcastle United have been linked with Argentine winger Kevin Zenon of Boca Juniors.

It's a name that appeared at the start of the year despite having only joined Boca Juniors in January, but it's one that hasn't gone away since.

Now Caught Offside are reporting that Newcastle, Aston Villa and Tottenham are all seriously considering an approach for the winger who has a £13 million release clause.

We've often rubbished the idea that Newcastle would be seriously interested in Zenon now given that his main position is left wing.

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Is Harvey Barnes' time at Newcastle running out?

Anthony Gordon had, until midweek at least, the left-wing position on lockdown, but now Eddie Howe has played him out on the right in the last two games and the Magpies have won both, he might find himself on the right more often.

Harvey Barnes was signed for £39 million last year and has struggled to oust Anthony Gordon from the side and, unlike Gordon, never looks like he can handle being out on the right so well.

Given Barnes' inconsistent form, there's every chance that Newcastle could look to move him on before next season for the sake of his own career more than anything else. We're sure Newcastle don't mind having someone with his talent as a back-up but we can't imagine Barnes is overly happy with the situation.

Kevin Zenon is being tracked by a few clubs who will compete with Newcastle for his signature

It would make sense in that case then, that Newcastle swoop in for £13 million Kevin Zenon who is more likely to be okay with riding the bench for a while as he adapts to the pace of the Premier League.

The 23-year-old will eventually want to be a regular first-team feature for sure, but the time it takes him to get acclimatised will give Howe plenty of time to sort out his starting XI and finding out how to slot Zenon into the side.

However, as well as facing competition from Villa and Spurs, Caught Offside has named Brighton, Benfica, Lyon and Napoli as other interested parties. So Newcastle may not even land Zenon yet, which means it would be crazy to sell Barnes until they know they have a replacement coming in.

I'd love it if we could find a way to integrate Barnes into the side properly and allow him to get his confidence up which would in turn improve his consistency, but it doesn't seem to be happening for the former Leicester man.