Nikos Dabizas, the ex-Magpies defender, has plans to hold advanced talks with the club’s managing director Lee Charnley aimed to land both Mehdi Abeid and Romain Amalfitano.
Dabizas, the technical director at Panathinaikos, has earmarked the two midfielders as key transfer targets this summer after successfully qualifying for the Champions League.
The Athens club have sealed a place in the third qualifying round of the premier European club competition after successfully winning the play-offs despite a 1-0 defeat to PAOK last weekend.
Having secured that spot, Dabizas is keen to make immediate progress on the club’s recruitment plans for the summer and he views Abeid as a priority.
The 21-year-old scored two goals in four play-off matches, helped Panathinaikos to win the Greek Cup and grabbed seven goals and five assists in his 28 appearances for them.
Abeid, an Algerian Under-23 international with a record of playing regularly for France’s youth teams, has struggled to make an impact at Newcastle since arriving from Lens in 2011. He still has two years to run on his existing deal.
Amalfitano has also failed to make the impact he would have liked since arriving from Reims two years ago. After impressing during the pre-season of 2012, he has never made an appearance in the Premier League despite his three-year deal.
The 24-year-old has played regularly during a season-long loan at Dijon and that has led to Dabizas expressing tentative interest in taking the Frenchman to Greece with Abeid.
THAT COULD MEAN NINE FRENCH PLAYERS COULD LEAVE!
Alan Pardew called it "The French Revolution" and he even had an official "French Day" at St James' Park.
But Yohan Cabaye left the sinking ship and (according to reports) internationals Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko want to go too after the World Cup.
Mathieu Debuchy
But five more French Newcastle players are up for sale with Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Massadio Haidara heading the list.
French media organisation Mercato365 state that according to their information, Newcastle have made five French imports available, with Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan competing the list.