Newcastle United are facing some fierce competition if they want to sign Jonathan David this summer.

The Magpies were in the stands during David's goalscoring appearance at Anfield as Lille lost 2-1 to Liverpool in the Champions League last month. The Canada international was also looked at closely when Lille beat Nice 2-1 in Ligue 1 when Newcastle sent high level representation to France to run the rule over the 25-year-old.

However, Newcastle know they will be in for a tough battle to sign the Lille ace with a clutch of clubs trying to queue jump during the last few days of the transfer window. As reported on January 29 on Chronicle Live, David was the subject of a cheeky £10million bid with Lille rejecting the offer out of hand.

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David will still cost Newcastle money this summer with an agent fee and signing on fee certain to take the price over eight figures. But his wage demands should fit into Newcastle's budget and it would be deemed a marquee signing in the eyes of Eddie Howe.

The French club's chiefs argued that it would be an own goal cashing in now given they would stand to lose £40m if they fail to qualify for the Champions League. David was on target in Lille's 6-1 win over Feyenoord as they went through to the next stage automatically.

David then netted in Saturday's 4-1 win over St Etienne from the spot to take his tally to 22 goals for the season. Lille's determination to hold on to David until the end of the season means the starting gun will be fired on the race to sign him at the end of June.

Newcastle's best hope of nabbing a star like David will be to dangle the prospect of the Champions League in front of the star. That would give them the edge over Manchester United but Arsenal are also keen.

Barcelona also admire the star and the striker is a boyhood fan of the La Liga outfit. Lille dismissed a further flurry of enquiries for David as deadline neared over the weekend.

Although, Newcastle did not put any type of offer on the table given their PSR status and it will be all eyes on the summer to see if they can land one of the most sought after free transfers of 2025.

David has already stated that he doesn't feel like a move mid-season would be the best idea for him. The forward said: “It’s not like the beginning of a season where you have a pre-season, you get to know your team-mates, you have time to gel. In January, things are very hectic. It’s about right now. It’s tougher.”

Another big target that Newcastle have looked at in recent weeks is Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford. There has been talk of a £60m bid from Newcastle but club sources played down any approaches in the last month. He remains a player on the wanted list at Newcastle - with head of recruitment Steve Nickson a big fan - but the club are looking to the summer and United say that no bid has been tabled in this window.