FLORIAN THAUVIN’S hopes of heading for Italy appear to have been hit by Newcastle United’s insistence that they want their money back on the expensive flop.

Thauvin only moved to St James’ Park last summer in a £14.5m deal from Marseille and has only made three Premier league starts despite an encouraging debut at Manchester United.

But Newcastle believe the forward can still go onto be a success somewhere having been monitored for a number of years by chief scout Graham Carr; who is certain the switch to Tyneside was merely a blip in his career.

Lazio are confident they can get the best out of him once more and guide him back towards performances that may demand a recall to the France get-togethers, although they are unwilling to match the valuation being placed on his head.

In an ideal world Newcastle would recoup the full £14.5m, although sources close to Lazio are suggesting he could be available for nearer £10m. The Serie A club, however, is not particularly keen to pay that sum either.

Thauvin moved to Marseille from Lille for a similar figure three years ago and Newcastle want to strike a deal before the start of the new season on August 5 at Fulham.

There has also been fresh talk that winger Andros Townsend and Tim Krul are still wanted by Crystal Palace, although Everton are also keen. If Newcastle sell those two then they would bring in a sizeable amount of cash for Rafael Benitez to reinvest in the team.

Middlesbrough are also looking at making adjustments to their squad ahead of their Premier League return, which will start eight days after Newcastle when Stoke City travel to the Riverside.

Aitor Karanka, the Boro head coach, has already made a couple of new additions in the form of Danish winger Viktor Fischer and Bernado Espinosa and he is looking for plenty more.

There are a long list of names regularly being floated around, at home and abroad, and Wales full-back Chris Gunter, currently with Reading, and Czech Republic striker Tomas Necid are two of the latest players to be linked with the club.