Pundit Warren Barton has suggested that Newcastle United should attempt to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham in the summer on TalkSPORT’s breakfast show.

It’s certainly an audacious call, but it may not be as ridiculous as people would initially think. Nevertheless, if Newcastle choose to go down this route, they will need to do battle with several of football’s biggest hitters.

On TalkSPORT, Barton said: ““You look at Eddie’s [Howe] profile that he wants, he wants big, strong, athletic, powerful players. Someone like Jude Bellingham comes into that now they’re in the Champions League.

“Everybody says he’s going to Real Madrid, and he probably would do, but that’s how the ownership could be looking to do that. They need depth and they need a few x-factors. There’s no doubt when they played Arsenal, they came a little bit short.”

Who else is interested in Jude Bellingham?

At this point, an easier question to answer would be: ‘who isn’t interested in Jude Bellingham?’ Almost every club on the planet would love to bring the former Birmingham City academy graduate on board – but only a few have the potential to do so.

Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Real Madrid are all very keen to bring Bellingham to their respective squads. As things stand, Los Blancos appear to be in the frontrunners in the race to secure his services.

Could Newcastle United sign Jude Bellingham?

In theory, anything is possible. Money is certainly no object for the Mags, given their vast swathes of financial resources – even though their spending has been relatively sensible since the takeover.

As such, Newcastle can probably, and theoretically, afford to sign Bellingham in the summer. Not only this, but they also will also be able to offer him Champions League football, after they secured a top four finish last night in a 0-0 draw with Leicester City.

The Magpies certainly will not be the favourites to sign Bellingham if they register an official interest in him – but don’t count them out of the race just yet.