NEWCASTLE UNITED face stiff competition for one of their long-term transfer targets this summer with West Ham United primed to make an early approach to Lille over Sven Botman.

The Magpies made a number of unsuccessful bids for Botman during the January transfer window, and are expected to make a renewed attempt to sign the central defender this summer.

Speaking last month, Amanda Staveley confirmed the Magpies' ongoing interest in Botman, and suggested that the Dutch defender remains keen on a move to Tyneside.

Staveley said: "We were 19th going into the window. So we had that, an illiquid market and the complexity of Covid-19, which meant clubs didn’t want to sell because they didn’t know where their squads would end up.

“We had to encourage players – ‘We’ll be a safe place for you, we’ll deliver and grow’. Some desperately wanted to come to us, like Sven, who still does very much and has talked very openly about that."

However, West Ham boss David Moyes is understood to have made Botman his number one summer target, with his club’s board prepared to give him strong backing in the transfer market.

Moyes has identified a left-side centre-half as one of his key requirements this summer, and Botman, who helped Lille win the Ligue 1 title last season, fits the bill.

West Ham tried to sign Marseille's Duje Caleta-Car in the January window, but are set to switch their attentions to Botman in the summer.

Having spent around £100m during January, Newcastle will once again be active in the transfer market this summer.

However, while there has been talk of record-breaking deals for the likes of Neymar, the club will not be targeting 'global superstars' at such an early stage of their development under their new ownership group, led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.