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Rolando Aarons has caught the attentions of three clubs ahead of the January transfer window, according to reports.

Our sister paper the Mirror claim that a lack of game time for Aarons this season has alerted Crystal Palace, Huddersfield and Championship side Aston Villa.

The trio are hoping they might be able to a cut-price deal for the young winger who has struggled at Newcastle since joining from Bristol City in 2012.

Initially signing for the academy, the 22-year-old made his first team debut in 2014 and has shown signs of exciting class when he has been fit and playing.

After missing all of last season through injury, Aarons returned in the summer and once again looked bright in pre-season. However, he’s made just three first-team appearances since the start of the season, with his only start being in the EFL Cup.

That was in the cup defeat to Nottingham Forest back in August in which the Jamaican-born winger scored and set up Newcastle’s other in a man of the match display. It wasn’t enough to earn a regular place in Benitez’s squads though, as he instead has had to make do with appearances for Peter Beardsley’s second string.

He’s recently come back into the first team fold, but only as a substitute and was unused at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Whether Rafa Benitez would entertain offers for Aarons in January remains to be seen.

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He’s in desperate need of funds in January to strengthen his squad who are now winless in six games in the Premier League.

And with a takeover looking still far away, it’s possible that Benitez will once again face a transfer window with a tight budget, and therefore selling Aarons might be seen as a way of making up funds.

Hopes that it would be on the cheap seem ill-judged though. Aarons signed a new deal at Newcastle just last summer which ties him to the Magpies until 2021.