INTER MILAN and Napoli have both held talks with the representatives of Miguel Almiron as Newcastle United’s slim hopes of signing the Paraguayan forward continue to fade.

Newcastle have agreed the framework of a personal agreement with Almiron, but have been unable to agree a fee with his current employers, Atlanta United.

Rafael Benitez has been urging the Magpies hierarchy to sign Almiron ever since the transfer window reopened at the start of the month, but Newcastle remain more than £5m short of Atlanta’s asking price.

The MLS side are adamant they will not allow Almiron to leave for less than $25m, while Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is equally insistent that he does not want to pay more than £16m.

The impasse shows no sign of being broken, so Almiron’s representatives have received permission to conduct talks elsewhere, and have spent the last few days targeting Italy’s Serie A.

Napoli declared an interest at the end of last week, and Inter Milan have also now emerged as a possible destination after talks took place in the last couple of days.

Neither club has a lodged formal offer with Atlanta, but both are interested in acquiring Almiron ahead of Thursday night’s transfer deadline and have scheduled further discussions with the South American’s agents.

Despite their position in the bottom four places in the Premier League table, Newcastle are still to make a single signing this month.

A move for Lazio full-back Jordan Lukaku collapsed at the end of last week, and while Newcastle officials have reopened talks with Monaco over left-back Antonio Barreca, an agreement is still some way off being finalised.