Newcastle up their offer for Leicester City midfielder James Maddison

The Magpies initial offer of around £40 million was rejected by the Foxes with Brendan Rodgers keen to keep hold his talismanic attacker.

However, club officials have not given up hope of a potential deal and weeks a lying low in the transfer market with reported figures of around £50 million offered to Leicester.

• Read: Eddie Howe discusses chances of new signing this week

Maddison, a 25-year-old England international, is a target of Newcastle’s with the Premier League season getting underway at the end of this week.

Newcastle have been forced to go down different avenues in the transfer market after being forced to shelve their interest in Leeds United winger Jack Harrison and Bayern Leverkusen forward Moussa Diaby due to be quoted inflated sums by their respective clubs.

The attacking midfielder enjoyed his most fruitful season in a Leicester City shirt last campaign scoring 18 goals in 53 appearances for the club in all competitions.

If a deal were to be struck from their second offer, the liklihood is that Maddison would not feature for Newcastle in their season opening game against Nottingham Forest this weekend. 

• Read: The Northern Echo Team of the Week - Week 1

Asked whether Howe expects any signings before they host Forest, he responded: “Never say never. I’ve been in this game long enough to probably not give a definite answer on that" replied Howe. 

“As the days tick by, that will be more unlikely but we have been trying all window really. We’re desperate to try and improve the group if we can with the right player."