According to L’Équipe, Newcastle United scouts are tracking 20-year-old winger Stéphane Diarra.
The former Rennes attacker currently plays for Ligue 2 side Le Mans, and if reports from France are to be believed, both ourselves, Leicester and Celtic have all had club officials watching him ‘regularly’.
Diarra – who can play on the left or right wing – has bagged 3 goals and 2 assists in 12 starts for Le Mans so far this season.
The Franco-Ivorian has also attempted the third most amount of dribbles in Ligue 2 this season. Lortient’s Jimmy Cabot and AS Nancy’s Vagner are the only two to have attempted more, but Diarra’s success rate of 74% is superior to both.
With his age and lack of experience at senior level in mind, you can only presume the club are looking at Diarra with the U-23 set up in mind.
Watch him in action earlier this season in the clip below, with him setting up one (1:20) and scoring another (2:15) in Le Mans’ 2-1 win at Lorient:
