It’s fair to say Maxime Gonalons isn’t going through the best period of his career. L’Equipe, in a Friday article on the player’s future, say Gonalons has just had his ‘most difficult season’ with Lyon, for reasons both on and off the pitch.

Falling out with the club’s president Jean-Michel Aulas hasn’t helped, especially with Gonalons, the club captain, only having a season left on his contract.

A transfer looks a viable option, but Gonalons would have to find a club that both wanted him and were attractive enough. L’Equipe suggest that could be Newcastle United, although there’s Italian interest too.

The Premier League returners have ‘positioned themselves’ for Gonalons, claim the French newspaper, with Rafael Benitez being a fan of the player since his time at Napoli.

Such is Gonalons’ drop in status, L’Equipe say it’s hard to imagine any deal being worth much more than €5m. On the face of it, that sounds a good price for a Newcastle United gamble.

However, adding on a four or five year contract for the 28 year old, and accepting it’s probably the worst time of the player’s career, shows just what a gamble it could be for Newcastle.

There’s no claim of Benitez pushing Newcastle to snap the player up, just that they’ve ‘positioned themselves’.