Newcastle United are poised to make an offer for AS Monaco centre-back Benoit Badiashile, according to journalist Rudy Galetti. 

The lowdown

The Athletic's David Ornstein revealed on Monday afternoon that Newcastle's pursuit of Lille's Sven Botman 'looks all-but over'.

Botman had been The Magpies' 'top centre-back target', but his club refused to consider a January sale, and so Badiashile may be viewed as an alternative.

Eddie Howe reportedly wants to bring in two centre-halves this month, and Newcastle now have just under three weeks of the window remaining to grant that request, so it is no surprise to see other targets popping up.

The latest

Galetti, a journalist for Sky and SportItalia, tweeted on Monday night that 'Newcastle are ready to make an offer' for Badiashile.

Encouragingly, the player is said to be 'keen for the move' to St James' Park.

The Italian reporter revealed that the a bid 'should be around €30/40M,' equating to £25m-£33.3million.

The verdict

Is Badiashile a good plan B for Newcastle?

Well, data from FBRef suggests his main strengths are reading the game - he ranks in the 79th percentile among positional peers in the top five leagues for interceptions - but above all else progressing the ball (98th percentile for progressive passes, 80th for progressive carries).

He can, therefore, help shore up Newcastle defensively whilst also enabling them to build attacks from the back, something Howe is of course keen to do.

Football talent scout Jacek Kulig has gone as far as to label the 'tenacious' Frenchman as 'the definition of a complete centre-back'.

He's still just 20 years old, so he should only get better and better, although the one major concern is the rumours that he is set to be out for around six weeks with an injury.

In other news, Newcastle's no. 1 striker target has emerged.