Newcastle United eye second Milan raid for forward into the final year of his contract

Newcastle United are considering raiding Serie A giants Inter Milan for one of their academy prospects.

Magpies sporting director Dan Ashworth was in Milan just under a fortnight ago to successfully negotiate a £52million deal to bring Sandro Tonali to St James’ Park.

And Ashworth’s newest academy addition could arise from the other side of Milan - if reports from the Irish Examiner are to be believed.

Kevin Zefi, a Republic of Ireland youth international, has emerged as a realistic signing as Inter prepare to part ways with the 18-year-old, who has one-year remaining on his contract.

Zefi moved to the Italian club from Shamrock Rovers in 2021, and while he’s yet to make a senior appearance, he did impress in the youth set-up last season - scoring 16 times in 23 appearances.

The youngster, born in Dublin, never featured for Shamrock’s first-team either but did become the League of Ireland’s youngest-ever goalscorer at age 15 years and 206 days back in September 2020 after netting for the club’s second string.

Zefi has been capped by Ireland at under-15s, under-17s and under-19s level where he’s linked up with Newcastle academy pair Alex Murphy and Reece Byrne.

After starting work at Newcastle last summer, Ashworth has implemented big changes to the academy, including the scope in which they have to recruit emerging talent. The two players mentioned above are just two examples.

As reported yesterday, another Republic of Ireland youth international Romeo Akachukwu is set to visit Newcastle next week ahead of a potential move.

The 16-year-old has caught the eye of multiple elite clubs, including Manchester United, Arsenal and AC Milan, after starring at the recent under-17s European Championships.