Alan Shearer seriously impressed as ‘excellent’ Newcastle United transfer target scores a hat-trick

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Newcastle United will need to strengthen their attacking options at some point.

While the goals have returned for Newcastle right now, it’d perhaps be fair to suggest Eddie Howe’s squad could still do with strengthening.

That is not to overlook the contributions of the likes of Jacob Murphy for example but the club did try and sign a right-winger last summer.

Indeed, it’s something that is believed to be on the agenda – albeit a January transfer may be difficult given PSR limitations.

Still, plenty of names have been linked with a move to St James’ Park.

Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo is said to be Newcastle’s dream target, while Southampton’s exciting youngster Tyler Dibling is also understood to be on their radar.

Another of the players linked is Manchester City’s James McAtee.

Watching him in action on Saturday night, Alan Shearer was particularly impressed.

Alan Shearer blown away by Newcastle United transfer target James McAtee

The Newcastle United legend was on BBC punditry duty during City’s 8-0 FA Cup win over Salford City at the Etihad Stadium.

McAtee scored a hat-trick in the big victory and his finishing certainly impressed Shearer, who knows a thing or two about scoring goals…

“James McAtee wasn’t necessarily getting the ball that he wanted to in the first half, but he came into it and the finishes were excellent,” he said on BBC One.

Which club will James McAtee join next?

Pep Guardiola has been in effusive in his praise of the 22-year-old but City do have previous when it comes to letting players leave if they are not getting regular first-team minutes. A certain Cole Palmer springs to mind, although there are others such as Romeo Lavia and Liam Delap.

However, Newcastle reportedly face a battle when it comes to potentially landing the England U21 international either this month or during the summer transfer window.

Transfer expert Ben Jacobs recently suggested Fulham were in fact leading the chase to land McAtee should he leave City.