Newcastle United scouts reportedly watched Celtic central midfielder Matt O'Riley on international duty for Denmark's U21 side ahead of the January window.

The Lowdown: Impressive performance

Scouts from St. James' Park watched O'Riley play for Denmark U21s in their 2-1 loss away at Croatia U21s in a qualifying match for the next Euros last Friday evening.

Despite his team's defeat, O'Riley managed to get himself on the scoresheet, and also recorded a player-high three key passes in the game, as well as making two interceptions and one tackle (SofaScore).

The Latest: Newcastle scouts watch

As per Football Scotland, the Magpies are continuing to monitor O'Riley, after reportedly weighing up a bid for him in the summer.

While there were many other clubs in attendance during his qualifying game, the North East outfit kept a close eye on him in particular, suggesting that they could make a move in January if he became available for the right price.

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/newcastle-news-7/" title="Newcastle news!" poster="" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

The Verdict: Midfielder needed

With the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Jonjo Shelvey suffering from injury problems this campaign, Eddie Howe's side could really do with an extra body in the middle of the park.

Lauded as a ‘classy’ and ‘silky’ footballer by Scottish football pundit Michael Stewart, O’Riley would certainly add some guile into the midfield, and at 21 years of age, his ceiling is still very high.

A title-winner with Celtic last term, he joined them last January from MK Dons and made an instant impact, scoring four goals and supplying two assists in 20 appearances (Transfermarkt), and so O'Riley could make the same kind of impact again if he were to join the Toon.