Lubos Kalouda

Newcastle are trying to beat Juventus to the signing of Czech starlet Lubos Kalouda.

The 20-year-old midfielder has been in talks with Juve, who made a move for Kalouda earlier this month.

Brno want around 4million euros (£2.9million) for the highly-rated midfielder and Juve had looked on course to finalise a deal.

However, the Turin giants have taken their time to finalise the deal and now Brno have opened talks with Newcastle.

"Considering that 31 January is getting closer, we have to negotiate," Brno's major shareholder Roman Pros confirmed to CTK.

"There are no further obligations to Juventus. Despite that, we are awaiting their statement but in the meantime we have started talks with Newcastle who know our requirements for releasing Kalouda."

Juve see Kalouda as the long-term replacement for fellow countryman Pavel Nedved and they could now be spurred into action by Newcastle's bid.

Juve were set to allow Kalouda - who was called into the Czech national squad for the first time earlier this month - to stay at Brno until the end of the season but it remains to be seen whether Newcastle would want him to move straight away or not.