Newcastle are reportedly pushing to sign a Tottenham star as Eddie Howe's side look to take advantage of their relegation concerns.
Newcastle take on high-flying Bournemouth this afternoon
Before the Magpies can think about who is coming in, they have to get through the season in one piece.
Howe's side welcome Bournemouth to St James' Park this afternoon having lost three consecutive games in all competitions, a run that has left the atmosphere on Tyneside tense and the pressure on their manager growing by the week.
They sit 14th in the Premier League table and have dropped more points from winning positions than any other side this season, a damning pattern that has come to define a campaign that promised so much more.
Newly promoted Sunderland are projected to finish above them as things stand, which comes as a stinging fact in itself.
Bournemouth arrive in sharp contrast.
Andoni Iraola's side are on a 12-game unbeaten run, and have not lost in their last six Premier League meetings with Newcastle.
The optics could barely be worse for Howe, but the real storm may be building off the pitch.
With the season limping towards its conclusion, Newcastle's hierarchy are already eyeing a significant summer overhaul — and they may have to rebuild from scratch.
Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães and Tino Livramento are all being tipped to depart St James' Park this summer, while Kieran Trippier has already confirmed he will be leaving the club.
That is a brutal amount of quality to replace in a single window, and the recruitment team will have their work cut out.
Newcastle 'pushing' to sign Conor Gallagher from Tottenham
One name they are actively pursuing, as per SportsBoom, is Conor Gallagher.
Sources have told the outlet that Newcastle are 'pushing' to sign the 26-year-old England midfielder, and they are set to reignite an interest that has been on the backburner for some time.
The intrigue here lies partly in the circumstances.
Gallagher only signed for Tottenham in January for a reported £35 million, joining from Atlético Madrid where he spent 18 months.
At Atlético, he made 77 appearances in all competitions and scored seven goals, before returning to England and putting pen to paper at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Since arriving at Spurs, he has largely failed to impress, and it is believed that technical director Johan Lange and co now want to recoup the money they paid for Gallagher if Newcastle make a move.
In other words, they'll sell for £35m.
If Spurs are relegated to the Championship, the north London club are braced for a mass exodus, and are resigned to losing Gallagher among those departures.
Aston Villa, who were keen on Gallagher before Spurs swooped and hijacked their deal, are also understood to be monitoring the situation closely.
For Newcastle, landing a box-to-box England international and ex-Chelsea captain with 136 Premier League appearances before his move to Spain could be a prudent move.
Whether it is enough to offset the scale of the summer rebuild ahead is another question entirely.