Newcastle United are eyeing Atletico Madrid football chief Andrea Berta.

The club's new owners are planning to create a technical director's position and Berta is on their shortlist.

AS says Newcastle's owners have been in contact with Berta for the past 18 months as they entered talks about buying the club from Mike Ashley.

Berta has already rejected Manchester United since then and remains happy and settled in Madrid.

While Newcastle can better his contract, Atletico sources are confident in the Italian's commitment.

Berta is regarded among the best technical directors working in football today. Though without a playing background, Berta has successfully put together a team for Atletico that saw them win the LaLiga title last season. He is a past winner of the Sporting Director of the Year award at the Global Soccer Awards.

He first moved to Atletico in 2013 from Genoa, where he began working as an international scout ahead of working his way up inside the LaLiga giants.

- updated October 20