Newcastle United are enjoying a phenomenal start to their Premier League season and are currently third in the table.

Eddie Howe will be thrilled at the rapid progress his team has made since joining the club just over 12 months ago, when they were in the relegation zone at this stage of the season. However, the manager will be keen to emulate the displays from their first 15 league outings over the remainder of the campaign.

Newcastle are still involved in both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup alongside attempting to maintain their Champions League qualifying berth inside the top four of the Premier League, so acquiring the services of some new additions in January could be the perfect opportunity for Howe to strengthen.

It has been reported by 90min this week that Newcastle remain keen on bolstering their wide forward positions, with Ukraine and Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk named as one of the players that the club have been monitoring over the last six months.

The talented forward has been attracting attention from a number of elite clubs for his form this season with Arsenal, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, so if Newcastle hold genuine interest, they will need to come up with a tempting offer to fend off their competitors.

In 44 appearances for Shakhtar, the 21-year-old – who was dubbed “impressive” by Thierry Henry – has scored 12 goals and registered 17 assists with a goal contribution every 83 minutes, proving that he is a very consistent and reliable threat in the final third.

In terms of this season alone, Mudryk has been stealing the spotlight in the Champions League with his influential performances which have offered much more than just goal contributions.

Across six appearances in the competition, the £86m-valued dynamo has created one big chance and tallied an 81% pass completion rate, along with averaging one tackle, 42.8 touches, 1.7 successful dribbles and 4.2 successful duels per game. Those statistics further highlight his ability to get into positions to win the ball and offer a huge presence on the pitch.

Newcastle could even land their next David Ginola with the signing of Mudryk, as just like the former Magpies winger, the Ukrainian youngster uses his creativity and hard-working attitude to get the ball into dangerous positions for his forward team-mates, and he isn’t afraid to take on opponents to gain possession of the ball.

The signing of Mudryk would be a major coup for the Magpies if they pull it off, and he could be a great asset not just over the second half of the season but also a player for the future at St James’ Park.