Alan Pardew wants to bring Anderlecht defender Cheikhou Kouyate to Newcastle in January. It is believed that the Newcastle manager is a big fan of the 22-year-old central defender, who has made 44 appearances since joining Anderlecht from Brussels in 2008. Kouyate is already familiar with Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse having played for his national side Senegal five times. Kouyate has the ability to play as a defensive midfielder as well as a defender, and his versatility is something which Newcastle could certainly do with at the moment. It is believed that Pardew will have a fight on his hands if he is to land the promising young defender as four other clubs are interested in his signature. German teams Stuttgart and Wolfsburg as well as Russian teams Anzhi Makhachkala and Zenit St Petersburg are all said to be considering a January move for the player. Moreover, it is believed that Anderlecht will only sell Kouyate for a fee around the £7.5m mark. Do you think Mike Ashley would be willing to pay that much for a defender? Have you seen much of Kouyate? Is he the sort of player that would fit in well at Newcastle?
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