Newcastle are close to signing 22 year old Romain Amalfitano, according to reports in the BBC, with the Toon already starting to make waves in the transfer window as they continue to build on their squad.

Amalfitano is currently part of the newly promoted to Ligue 1 Stade de Reims line-up, and comes from a footballing family, with his brother Morgan playing for Marseille.

With his current deal at the French outfit expiring in June, the 22 year old looks set to join Newcastle at the end of next month, and seals yet another deal from across the border for a player who will not cost the north eastern club a cent in transfer fees.

Pardew has gone from being hated to loved by the Newcastle fans within a season, with his transfer policy looking particularly risky last summer as the likes of Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton left the club.

Alan Pardew
Alan Pardew is planning on building on the Newcastle squad this summer.

But after making purchases in Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse, and keeping faith in Hatem Ben Arfa to become an integral member of the Toon squad, Pardew has now admitted he feels more trusted by Newcastle fans as he prepares for another transfer window.

Meanwhile, Fabricio Coloccini says he hopes the side can keep their big stars as well as bringing new talent in, with the Toon having fought hard for Champions League qualification and looking at their first games in the Europa League since 2006.

"Of course I would like the team to stay together," Collocini told The Journal. "I think the most important thing is to keep the spine of this team together, then hopefully we will bring in some players to help us.

"It is very important that we keep that backbone for Europe next season. And of course having some new players would be very welcome."

The captain also committed his long term future to St James' Park, insisting: "There is always speculation in the summer but it will be nice for it not to be about me this time.

"It happens when the transfer window is open. Sometimes because there is no football to talk about, people just want to talk about transfers when there is nothing there. It is football, it happens but I have always said I'm happy at Newcastle United."