Newcastle monitoring future of Manchester United defender

Steve Bruce is interested in signing Manchester United centre-back Axel Tuanzebe should he be available for transfer this summer, claims The Athletic.

Newcastle are yet to make a signing this summer but are working to bring Joe Willock back to the club on loan and are also interested in Chelsea's Conor Gallagher.

Bruce is also keen to bolster his defensive options for next season after conceding 1.6 goals per game in 2020/21.

The Newcastle manager worked briefly with Tuanzebe at Aston Villa three years ago and is aware the 23-year-old could be available this summer.

United are tentatively moving forward with talks to sign Raphael Varane and his arrival would leave Tuanzebe as fifth choice at Old Trafford.

Tuanzebe is already said to be keen to find regular playing time elsewhere irrespective of Varane's arrival after only featuring nine times in the Premier League last term.

The former England Under-21 international's best performance came in the Champions League when he did a superb job marking Kylian Mbappe out of the game in October.

Tuanzebe completed 13 of his 14 attempted tackles in the Premier League last season, ranking fourth of all players to have attempted at least 10 (92.9% success rate).