Newcastle United eye Iceland international defender

Newcastle United have been monitoring the progress of impressive centre-back Hordur Bjorgvin Magnusson. The defender currently plays in the Championship with Bristol City.

Magnusson had started his career playing for local side Fram, before making a dream move to Juventus back in 2011. After five years in Turin - mostly spent on loan elsewhere in Italy - Bristol City eventually won the race to sign the defender for around 1.75 million euros in July 2016. Magnusson has been impressive in recent games for Iceland, scoring a winning goal against Croatia.

According to reports, Newcastle United manager, Rafa Benitez has been impressed with the performances of the versatile defender, who is comfortable playing at left-back or in the centre of a three-man defence and will make an official bid for the player in the coming weeks.

Magnusson has also caught the eye of numerous other top clubs and Stoke City was reportedly monitoring the 6 foot 3 defender in action last season on two occasions. Newcastle United will need to pay around £7.5 million to sign the player.