Newcastle United are keen on Ajax's Edson Alvarez, Luke Edwards of The Telegraph reports.

The lowdown

Alvarez, 24, is predominantly a defensive midfielder, but he also has 68 games' worth of experience as a centre-back.

He joined Ajax from Mexican outfit Club America in the summer of 2019 for a fee of £13.5million, and is now valued at £19.8million by Transfermarkt.

Alvarez, who has played 106 games for the club, is under contract for another three years.

The latest

Edwards took to Twitter on Monday evening to share an update on Newcastle's transfer activity.

He says the Magpies are 'still pushing for signings' in the next week and a half.

And one of the players who's 'of interest' to key figures at St James' Park is Alvarez.

As it stands, though, the 'gap in valuations remains too big to get any deals done'.

The verdict

If we take a look at Alvarez's numbers from last season, we can see that he records high numbers of successful aerial duels (3.3 per game, 102 overall), tackles (2.0, 63), interceptions (1.4, 43), clearances (1.5, 46) and long passes (2.5, 76). It's pretty much everything you would want in a holding midfielder player.

Indeed, he's a prolific ball-winner, regaining possession a UEFA competition-record 19 times in a Europa League game against Young Boys in 2020/21.

Alvarez has been a regular for his country since the summer of 2017, with former manager Miguel Herrera calling his rapid progress up the international ranks 'extraordinary'.

It seems as though he's loved at Ajax, judging by the ceremony that was held at the Johann Cruyff ArenA last autumn when he extended his contract, with fans and players present.

Newcastle, then, might have a job on their hands trying to persuade him to depart.