With Christmas just around the corner, that means the winter transfer window is just after it, and clubs are getting ready for any spending. Newcastle United have been upping their scouting in recent months and it would be no surprise if Rafael Benitez fancied an addition or two to help his team achieve promotion to the Premier League.

Benitez has done well with Newcastle in the Championship, but failure to make the jump would make early season optimism pointless. Benitez will do everything he can to achieve the goal, and Newcastle’s great and good will surely back him.

However, signing target Nicolas Pepe may well be difficult. The 21 year old Angers forward is a Benitez target for Newcastle, explain French newspaper L’Equipe on Thursday, but the club have serious competition.

Lyon, AS Monaco, AS Roma, Lille, Lyon and Juventus are all keen too. The interest from Newcastle United and others has led Angers to set a price at ‘€10m, bonuses not included’ for Pepe.

Lyon want to pay less. Newcastle, if they really want the player, would likely have to front it all up to push themselves ahead of competition.

At least he’s used to wearing black and white.