Newcastle United prepare bid for Southampton target Evann Guessand after club chiefs back summer transfer

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According to the Northern Echo, the Newcastle United hierarchy are ready to step up their interest in Evann Guessand after endorsing a transfer of the OGC Nice forward.

The Toon have compiled a series of dossiers on Guessand after having the teenager scouted during a season-long loan spell in the Swiss Super League with Lausanne-Sport this term, where he has scored seven goals and provided four assists in 31 appearances.

Guessand has left a glowing impression on the Magpies’ talent spotters after improving the level of his performances as the term has progressed, to the stage where Newcastle are now ready to submit an offer having deemed him to be an increasingly attractive target.

United still consider Guessand to be an extremely raw prospect but hope that he can follow the path taken by relatively unproven Ligue 1 players in the past, who the Magpies were later able to profit from.

Guessand is set to be out of contract at Nice this summer, although the French outfit hold an option to extend his terms by a further year and may use the clause before cashing in while his stock is reasonably high.

This follows reports by the Daily Mail earlier in the week, which claimed Newcastle and Southampton are among a clutch of clubs battling to sign the 19-year-old striker, who has represented France at youth level but is also eligible for the Ivory Coast.

TBR’s view:

It remains to be seen how high Nice believe Guessand’s stock is after an impressive season in Switzerland with Lausanne-Sport, but Newcastle could certainly land a highly promising young centre-forward by pursuing a deal to obtain the Corsica-born prospect.

Guessand is a fast, powerful and imposing 6ft striker and is noted to boast a high technical ability, which culminated in the attacker scoring a spectacular scorpion-style flick goal to pull level with FC Zurich on Sunday that saw L’Equipe compare him with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The French publication add that Guessand has been one of the real revelations of the Swiss Super League season in a mid-table side, and it may not be long before he is given a higher stage to showcase his potential with Newcastle and Southampton among the clubs thought to be keen.