Newcastle set to battle two Premier League rivals in race to sign £20million-rated Jonathan Tah after double injury blow

NEWCASTLE are weighing up a January move for Bayer Leverkusen’s £20m-rated defender Jonathan Tah.

Eddie Howe is looking for defensive reinforcements after losing Sven Botman and Dan Burn to injury.

Manchester United and West Ham are among the clubs all around Europe who also like the look of the German international and Newcastle could face stiff competition.

Tah, 27, has been outstanding in Leverkusen’s impressive start to the season which put them top of the Bundesliga going into this weekend’s fixtures.

Xabi Alonso’s side also have a perfect record in the Europa League and would be very reluctant to lose Tah before the end of the season.

But the 6ft 5in centre-back has just over 18 months left on his contract and the German side could feel pressure to cash in if clubs make big offers in January.

Tah joined Leverkusen from Hamburg in a deal worth around £6.5m in 2015.

He has gone on to make 321 appearances for them to date.

The commanding defender has missed just one game in all competitions so far this term and has already scored four goals.

Tah has earned 19 caps for Germany and will hope to play a key part in Euro 2024, which they will host.

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He earned his international debut in 2016 but has flitted in and out of the set-up in the years since.

Having hardly featured under Hansi Flick, Tah has started Germany's three games since the former Bayern Munich boss' dismissal.

He was part of his country's squad for Euro 2016 but has not been to a tournament since.