Are there big plans afoot at Newcastle? According to The Chronicle, Newcastle's scouting team - now thankfully minus Ryan Taylor, who is back to his primary duties finally - will be running the rule over key attacking AND defensive targets in two very important missions this weekend as the Magpies attempt to make it 3 on the bounce in the league against Liverpool. They say that the club will have representatives in both France and Germany to take in games featuring Marseille and Wolfsburg, as the club look to get a head start on their winter transfer schedule with the missing two pieces of the jigsaw they apparently tried to get at the end of the summer. In Marseille, Newcastle's boys will be watching striker target - a confirmed one apparently - Andre-Pierre Gignac, the top scoring Frenchman whose contract is up at the end of the season, and who will be looking to put Lens to the sword to increase his tally even further. United reportedly looked to Gignac in the summer when it appeared Papiss Cisse was on his way out, but it was too late to do anything about it, and he's now cementing his reputation by scoring for fun. Sadly for Newcastle fans, last year he apparently turned the club down in search of someone better. Whether that was true remains to be seen - just as with these links in fact. And over in Germany, scouts will take in Stuttgart's game against Wolfsburg on Saturday, with both Sebastien Jung and Robin Knoche under scrutiny. Knoche has been linked already, and is apparently valued at £8million, which isn't a terrible amount for a German U21 player with the world ahead of him, while Jung seemingly impressed while the club ran the rule over Knoche. At 24 he's older, and he's also a right-back, which would be a seemingly odd investment this January with Daryl Janmaat just signed. But then, there's not a great deal of cover there, as Ryan Taylor might be more useful in central midfield. Would you be happy with these players at Newcastle? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
