NEWCASTLE UNITED hope the battle for a World Cup place will help persuade Kieran Trippier to swap a La Liga title fight for a Premier League relegation scrap in the second half of the season.

The Magpies’ recruitment team are finalising their plans for the January transfer window, with Saturday’s win over Burnley having improved Eddie Howe’s side’s prospects of hauling themselves to safety in the remainder of the campaign.

Howe has held a number of discussions with head of recruitment Steve Nickson, and with right-back having emerged as a priority area, the pair have identified Trippier as a leading target.

Newcastle are willing to pay around £25m for the England international, whose contract at Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano is due to expire in the summer of 2023.

Trippier has enjoyed a successful two-and-half seasons since moving to Spain in the summer of 2019, but has suffered a somewhat frustrating few months during the current campaign.

He is currently sidelined with a shoulder injury, and while the problem is expected to clear up before the end of the year, Trippier had found himself squeezed out of the starting line-up by Marcos Llorente prior to being sidelined.

Llorente is seen as a coming force in the Atletico camp, and given the strength of competition at right-back in the England squad, Trippier will not want to spend the second half of the season drifting in and out of Atletico’s starting side.

Gareth Southgate can select Reece James, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kyle Walker ahead of Trippier, and Newcastle’s recruitment team will be pushing the need for regular game time if they get the opportunity to speak to the 31-year-old and his representatives at the turn of the year.

The Magpies are assessing a host of different transfer options, with Burnley duo James Tarkowski and Ben Mee both regarded as realistic targets. Burnley boss Sean Dyche is adamant he will not be allowing any of his key players to leave next month, with Saturday’s defeat at St James’ having left the Clarets level on points with both Newcastle and Norwich.

However, with money effectively no object after Amanda Staveley’s Saudi Arabia-backed consortium completed their takeover, the Magpies hierarchy are ready to test Burnley’s resolve.

While Howe would prefer to sign players with previous Premier League experience next month, Lille defender Sven Botman is regarded as a viable overseas-based alternative to Tarkowski.

Botman joined Lille from Ajax in the summer of 2020 for around £7.8m, and impressed during his debut campaign in Ligue 1 last season.

He was linked with a possible move to Liverpool after Lille pipped Paris St Germain to the Ligue 1 title, and while his current employers are battling on domestic and European fronts, Lille’s financial position means they would have to listen to any offers of around £35-40m.

Yesterday proved a significant day at St James’ Park, with work to remove the unpopular Sports Direct advertising signs from the stadium finally getting under way.

Former owner Mike Ashley controversially plastered Newcastle's home stadium with adverts for his sportswear brand, with fans regularly bemoaning both the way in which the branding ruined the look of St James' Park and the fact that the club's ability to earn external advertising revenue was severely diminished by the tie-up with Sports Direct.

When Staveley completed her purchase of the club, she confirmed her intention to start removing the advertising boards. That process began yesterday, with workmen at St James' Park being hoisted by a cherry-picker to remove the Sports Direct signage from all four stands, beginning at the Leazes End. The work will continue this week, and the signs should all be removed by the time Newcastle host Manchester City in their next home game on December 19.