NEWCASTLE UNITED have been told they will have to agree a permanent deal with Flamengo if they are to land attacking target Gabriel Barbosa this month.

The Magpies are keen to recruit a new forward, with leading scorer Callum Wilson set to be sidelined for at least another month after injuring his calf in last month’s draw with Manchester United.

While Eddie Howe would prefer to recruit players with Premier League experience, there is an acceptance that it will be all-but-impossible to sigh a proven forward with a track record in the English top-flight this month.

As a result, Newcastle’s recruitment team have been spreading their net wider and Barbosa has emerged as a potentially-attractive option.

The 25-year-old has been in stunning form in the Brazilian top-flight with Flamengo, scoring 98 goals in 139 matches to successfully rebuild his career after a difficult time in Europe.

Barbosa joined Inter Milan for a fee of around €30m in 2016, but he failed to spark at the San Siro and a brief loan spell in Portugal with Benfica proved equally unsuccessful.

He has been excellent with both Santos and Flamengo though, eventually rejoining the latter on a permanent basis in December 2020, but his previous inability to settle in Europe is an obvious concern to his English suitors, most notably Newcastle and West Ham.

The Hammers tried to steal a march on the Magpies by tabling an offer that would have seen them pay around £5m to sign Barbosa on an 18-month loan deal, but that has been rejected by Flamengo.

If the Brazilian club are to allow their prize asset to leave this month, they want to extract the maximum possible value. That means a sale rather than a loan arrangement.

Like West Ham, Newcastle would ideally prefer a ‘try-before-you-buy arrangement’ which would cover them in the eventuality of Barbosa failing to settle on Tyneside.

That now looks all-but-impossible to broker, so Howe and Amanda Staveley must decide whether a big-money deal for a player proven in South America but more of an unknown quantity in Europe is worth the risk.