Newcastle United have reportedly 'set their sights' on Hellas Verona striker Giovanni Simeone. 

The lowdown: Most lethal finisher in 20/21

Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego, is currently on loan at Verona from fellow Serie A outfit Cagliari.

He's currently the second top-scorer in the division with nine goals in just seven starts (via WhoScored). Four of those strikes came in 4-1 win over Maurizio Sarri's Lazio last month.

Strikingly, no player in Europe's top five leagues has out-performed their expected goals by a greater margin than Simeone (+6.2), showing he has been extremely clinical in front of goal this term.

The latest

The report, from L'Arena (via Tutto Hellas Verona), states that Newcastle and West Ham are both interested in Simeone.

Verona apparently have the option to make his loan permanent for €12million (£10.1million), so it may not be Cagliari with whom the Magpies have to negotiate.

The verdict

You can look at Simeone's goalscoring exploits in one of two ways. If you take them at face value, they're immensely impressive, putting him amongst the European elite at this stage of the campaign.

On the other hand, though, the deficit between his expected goals and actual goals is surely unsustainable. Indeed, prior to this season, he'd actually underperformed every year in that department.

It's important that Newcastle look past the headline numbers and don't allow themselves to be fooled into another Joelinton, although Simeone's far inferior price tag to the Brazilian could mean this is still a risk worth taking.

In other news, Newcastle are ready to splash the cash on another Serie A signing.