As rumours around the future of Sandro Tonali continue to dominate the headlines, Newcastle United would be crazy not to be lining up potential replacements.

In truth, it feels increasingly likely that Sandro Tonali leaves this summer after growing interest from Man Utd and others. So, it feels highly likely that Eddie Howe will be asking Ross Wilson to find him at least one more central midfielder.

Joe Willock has been hotly tipped to leave this summer, like he has in each of the last three windows, to be fair. However, it does feel as though this will be the one the former Arsenal man will call time on his Newcastle career.

Jacob Ramsey has started to show why we paid £40 million for him recently, but Newcastle will be left with a big hole to fill in that No.6 position should Tonali depart. Which brings us to a potential replacement linked via the Italian media today.

Newcastle back in for Thuram?

Juventus star Khephren Thuram may be someone who could challenge that trinity, with Calciomercato IT reporting that Newcastle have reignited their interest in the 25-year-old France international.

Over the weekend, Newcastle were linked with Inter Milan’s Marcus Thuram, and we remarked that the Magpies were regularly linked with each of the Thuram brothers a couple of years ago, and here we are again.

Thuram is expected to leave Juventus in the summer, especially if they fail to secure Champions League football. He’ll not come cheap, however, as The Old Lady are expected to demand €60 million (£52 million) for Thuram.

That would make the Frenchman considerably more than the £22 million Juve paid to sign him from Nice in 2024, but any outlay around the £50 million mark would be significantly less than the £100 million Newcastle are likely to demand for Tonali.

Toon have tracked Thuram for years

Khephren Thuram is more of a defensive midfielder, so he would bring a different profile to anything we have right now. Our main midfield three all help out with defensive duties, but we’d not class any of them as a CDM, so Thuram could bring something new to the side.

We can’t help but feel there’s genuine interest from Newcastle’s side here, given the long-standing links to the Frenchman, which date back to his time at OGC Nice. However, the reports are originating from Italy, and they do have form when it comes to using Newcastle to generate interest in players.

That’s not to say we wouldn’t welcome the idea of bringing Thuram to Tyneside if indeed the rumours prove to have some truth to them, and we would say that these links feel more sensible than those to Marcus Thuram.