Newcastle United are set to sign French defender Ludwig Francillette, according to Lee Ryder.

The Chronicle journalist named the 20-year-old via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday after images surfaced of a mystery player at St James’ Park on Monday, holding a Newcastle shirt as though he was about to be unveiled as a new signing.

#nufc U23s close to announcing the signing of Ludwig Francillette. A French-born 20-year-old defender. — Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) August 6, 2019

The Chronicle, via their live transfer blog on Tuesday [01:20pm], report that Francillette is that player and the Magpies look set to sign him after a failed trial spell at St Mirren earlier in the summer.

Ryder adds that Francillette will be signed for the Newcastle Under-23s squad.

OPINION

It caused a massive buzz on social media on Monday when those images of an unknown player with a Newcastle shirt appeared online. There was a lot of speculation about who the player is, but after all of that, it’s quite an underwhelming result. It remains to be seen how good Francillette is but a signing for the club’s Under-23s is hardly going to get pulses racing at St James’ Park, especially as he failed to get a deal at St Mirren after having a trial at the Scottish club. It’s really hard to dig up information on the Frenchman other than that he is quite a tall player who plays in the defence. Newcastle will have no doubt done their homework on Francillette and will know more about him than anyone else, so this is going to have to be one where the fans just trust the club’s instincts. It’s hardly going to be a risky signing anyway with minimal impact on the club’s finances and Steve Bruce’s transfer budget.