Newcastle United are constantly on the hunt for up and coming British talent and this month speculation is rife that Manchester City's James McAtee is high on the shortlist at St James' Park.

The 22-year-old star is struggling for game time at the Etihad Stadium and plenty of sides, including West Ham, Brentford, Crystal Palace and the Magpies, have been credited with an interest. McAtee himself wants more game time but Pep Guardiola has made a public play to keep him at the champions.

The Daily Mail this week reported Newcastle had been monitoring the situation, with the player's £25m price tag in the North West catching the eye. However, Eddie Howe has been in similar situations before in January windows gone by.

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Back in late 2021 it was revealed City had knocked back an attempt from Newcastle to take a little-known Cole Palmer on loan for the second half of the 2021/22 season. With Ferran Torres departing the club for Barcelona, Palmer's exit was blocked as Guardiola's side looked to keep other attacking options at the club.

Howe saw Palmer as an attractive temporary option to bolster his ranks as Newcastle attempted to survive the drop but were told the youngster - then just 19 - was in Guardiola's plans for the remainder of that campaign.

Now, with McAtee angling to follow in Palmer's footsteps elsewhere due to a lack of game time at City, it looks as though Guardiola may be ready to offer the young forward the playing assurances he desires.

Speaking last month, the Spaniard said: "He’s a player, in a generation we have at City that has been unbelievable when you see Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Macca, Liam Delap, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, they’re incredible players come from there and he was part of that generation, he captained them.

“But I always felt this guy could play with us, and I’m very pleased for him because he’s an incredibly lovely guy, trains really good and he wants these minutes."

Howe addressed the media on Friday morning and rebuffed speculation that Newcastle were keen to sign fellow Manchester City star Jack Grealish. However, a move for someone like McAtee ticks a lot of boxes should they this time be able to persuade City to part ways.