NEWCASTLE UNITED have held talks with Belgian side Anderlecht about a possible €8m double deal for Matz Sels and Chancel Mbemba.

Anderlecht are extremely keen to sign Sels on a permanent basis this summer, with the goalkeeper having spent last season on loan in Brussels.

However, the Newcastle hierarchy are trying to persuade the Jupiler League club to agree to a deal that would also see them re-sign Mbemba three years after selling the centre-half to the Magpies.

The Anderlecht hierarchy are currently considering Newcastle’s offer, although European sources suggest they remain more interested in a stand-alone deal for Sels.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper, who was recently named in Belgium’s provisional squad for the World Cup finals, made 37 senior appearances for Anderlecht, representing his temporary employers in the Champions League as well as domestic competitions.

His performances helped Anderlecht finish second in the Jupiler League table, 12 points adrift of champions Club Brugge, and his boss, Hein Vanhaezebrouck, has publicly confirmed his desire to complete a permanent transfer this summer.

Newcastle paid £6m to sign Sels from Gent in the summer of 2016, but while he started the Championship season as Rafael Benitez’s first-choice shot-stopper, he was quickly dropped after a string of error-strewn displays.

The Magpies hierarchy accept they will not recoup the £6m sum they invested in Sels, but Anderlecht will have to pay around £4m in order to complete a deal.

Alternatively, they have been offered the chance to sign both Sels and Mbemba for around £7m, with Newcastle chief executive Lee Charnley having accepted that he will also have to take a considerable financial hit to get rid of the latter.

Mbemba cost around €10m when he left Anderlecht along with Aleksandar Mitrovic three years ago, but while his Newcastle career began promisingly despite the Magpies dropping out of the Premier League in his first season on Tyneside, he has struggled for game time in the last two seasons.

He briefly returned to the first team at left-back in the first half of last season, but his last Premier League start came on Boxing Day and Benitez does not envisage him having a first-team future next season.

He wasn’t even named on the substitutes’ bench in the final two months of last season, and Newcastle are keen to get his wages off the books given that he still has two years of his current contract to run.

The Magpies will look to move on a number of fringe players this summer, with Mitrovic, Jack Colback, Henri Saivet, Adam Armstrong and Achraf Lazaar also available for sale.