Newcastle United are interested in AZ Alkmaar midfielder Adam Maher as the Magpies are scouting Europe for young football talent.
According to the Daily Star, Chelsea, Manchester City and Sunderland, in addition to Newcastle, have all taken a look at the 19-year-old in recent months.
Despite being only 19, Maher has already played twice for The Netherlands’ senior side; perhaps to prevent him from playing for his country of birth – Morocco.
Last year Maher was voted Holland’s Young Player of the Year and the right footed central midfielder has already played more than 50 times for Dutch side AZ.
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Maher, only recently signed a contract extension that runs until 2015, but he denies that this means that he is no longer open to a move.
He told De Telegraaf: “If there is a nice club, I’m open to it. I still have the same ambitions as before. The future looks the same to me. I’ll continue to the winter break here, then see what happens.”
Alkmaar, who are struggling in the bottom half of the Eredivisie, are thought to be willing to listen to offers of around £12 million for the youngster, despite his actual value being around half that, which could prove to be a bit steep for the Magpies.
Here’s a video of AZ’s number eight in action…
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