Newcastle United are reportedly considering a hijack attempt of Lyon’s proposed move for striker Sardar Azmoun.
According to the Daily Mail, the club have made fresh enquiries for the Zenit St Petersburg star.
Newcastle, of course, have been rocked by another injury for Callum Wilson.
The England international will likely miss all of Newcastle’s January games, and perhaps a couple in February.
Newcastle probably needed to invest in another forward anyway this month. But it is likely the news about Wilson will now accelerate plans.
Azmoun has been in talks with French club Lyon, ahead of his contract with Zenit expiring this summer.
But apparently, Lyon are not willing to pay over £3 million to sign him this month.
Azmoun is hot property at the moment, having scored 10 goals in 21 games so far this season.
The Iran international has bagged 62 times in just 104 appearances in total for Zenit, as well as 39 in 60 games for his country.
Azmoun, 27, has spent most of his playing career in Russia.
He left Sepahan in 2013 to join Rubin Kazan. He then went to FC Rostov, before returning to Kazan. Azmoun has been with Zenit since February 2019.
Last month, Azmoun was supposedly on the radar of Everton and Rafa Benitez (90min).
Little-known entity Azmoun could a risky signing by Newcastle
Newcastle are in a precarious position in the Premier League table.
It is at the stage whereby the club cannot mess things up with the recruitment this month. There can be no margin for errors.
The players that come in have got to hit the ground running immediately.
One would question whether Azmoun would be up to the task.
He obviously has a great goalscoring record with Zenit, but the Russian Premier League is quite a way off the standard of the Premier League.
Surely a more household name should be on the agenda given the situation.
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