Newcastle United looking to sign Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel

Newcastle United are reportedly interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel, who is currently out of favour at Stamford Bridge.

According to Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad, the Magpies are one of the interested clubs looking to sign the Netherlands U21 international, who spent the last season on loan at AC Milan.

Van Ginkel joined Chelsea in the summer of 2013 and was looked upon as a future midfield star, but an injury at the start of the season saw him miss almost the entire campaign, resulting in the loss of his place in the first-team.

He was loaned to the Serie A giants last season, but failed to make an impact at the San Siro until the latter half of the campaign when he became a regular under Filippo Inzaghi. The Dutchman has returned from his loan spell and is now surplus to requirements at the west London club.

The 22-year-old midfielder, who is under contract to Chelsea until the summer of 2018 could be allowed to leave, as he is behind Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic, Ramires and Rubin Loftus-Cheek in the pecking order for a place at the heart of the Blues midfield.

Newcastle's new manager Steve McLaren is reportedly looking to make significant investment in the squad after the St James's Park outfit narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of last season.

Meanwhile, according to the Mirror, Newcastle are reportedly planning a £12m ($18.8m) bid for Anderlecht striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, as they look to bolster their forward line after struggling to score goals last campaign.

The Tyneside club managed just 40 goals last campaign, which saw them struggle during the latter half. This has prompted new manager Steve McLaren to focus on signing a proven goal scorer.

Mitrovic, who is contracted to the Belgian club until the summer of 2018, has been impressive this season, scoring 27 goals in all competitions. However, Newcastle will not have it easy as Premier League rivals Swansea City and Portuguese champions Benfica are also in the race for the striker's signature.