It feels like it’s been some time since Newcastle United brought into a new wonder kid or rising prospect into the youth set-up.

Around this time last year, we brought into the in-demand Antonio Cordero, beating out the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Ajax for the Spaniard’s signature.

And many fans will have hoped that Brazilian starlet Rayan from Vasco da Gama would be the next player of that calibre, but we ‘lost out’ on his signature to Bournemouth back in January.

Fortunately, however, it seems Rayan isn’t the only Brazilian on our radar. And we look to be progressing in our pursuit of another well-regarded talent…

Toon stepping up Allan pursuit?

According to reports in Brazil, Newcastle ramping up efforts to sign Palmeiras midfielder Allan, as he continues to generate interest from the Premier League.

And as part of our attempts to win over the star, journalist Felipe Lemos reports that we’ve sent a club representative to start initiating contact and potentially open talks to sign the 21-year-old.

The move is described as just the latest behind the scenes move in our bid to land more South American stars, with Steve Nickson’s expanding his scope and the club’s reach within Brazil in particular.

We’ve seen in the last few years alone the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City raid the Brasileiro Série A to great effect: it’s about time we tried to do so too.

Palmeiras could put foot down on Allan sale

However, much like his compatriots Vinicius Jr, Estevao and Vitor Reis, you would expect it’ll take a sizeable fee to sign Allan this summer.

According to ESPN Brazil’s Andre Hernan, the Palmeiras President has no desire to sell Allan any time soon, as he’s still seen as an essential player in their current plans.

But with Liverpool circling, and Napoli even having a total package bid of €40m rejected back in January, we’ll want to act fast if we’re serious about bringing Allan in.

€40m (£34m) isn’t cheap, and it’s significantly more than what Bournemouth forked out to sign Rayan, but if we really think he’s destined for the top, he could be worth two or three times that figure should he excel on Tyneside.