NEWCASTLE UNITED will make a renewed attempt to sign Anthony Knockaert over the weekend after Brighton rejected an initial £8m offer for the French winger.

Rafael Benitez will oversee the Magpies’ final pre-season outing when Dutch side Vitesse visit St James’ Park this afternoon, but as well as fine-tuning his line up for Friday’s Championship opener at Fulham, the Spaniard is also attempting to make further progress in the transfer market.

He remains keen to recruit a striker and an attacking midfielder, and Knockaert is his leading target in the latter category.

Newcastle officials made contact with their counterparts at Brighton’s Amex Stadium earlier this week to table an offer of around £8m for the 24-year-old, but it was rejected with Seagulls chairman Tony Bloom adamant he does not want to break up the squad that came so close to achieving promotion from the Championship last season.

Knockaert, who made more than 90 senior appearances for Leicester City between 2012 and 2015, returned to English football in January when he joined Brighton in a £2.6m move from Belgian side Standard Liege.

He made a major impact in the second half of last season, scoring five league goals in 19 outings and serving up a succession of assists as Brighton narrowly failed to overhaul Middlesbrough in the battle for the second automatic promotion place.

Given that Knockaert still has three years of his current contract remaining, Brighton are in a reasonably strong negotiating position, having also turned down substantial bids for Lewis Dunk and Dale Stephens this summer.

However, Newcastle officials hope the lure of a possible move to St James’ Park proves a strong one, and will make further contact with Brighton officials in the next 48 hours in an attempt to broker a deal.

In an ideal world, Benitez would like to field Knockaert on one flank next season, with summer signing Matt Ritchie operating on the opposite wing.

Ritchie remains an injury doubt for today’s game, with Benitez’s starting line-up likely to provide more clues about the side that will start at Fulham.

One of his biggest selection dilemmas comes in goal, with Karl Darlow having produced a rock-solid display at Southend on Tuesday, in contrast to summer signing Matz Sels, who has looked shaky on more than one occasion during pre-season.

It had been assumed that Sels would start following his £4.5m move from Belgian side Gent, but having performed creditably in the latter stages of last season, Darlow continues to make a strong case for his continued inclusion.

“Matz is good competition,” said Darlow. “We’ve got some very good goalkeepers now. It’s going to be a fight all season for who's going to be playing.

“When I get a chance, I just need to put my mark on a game and hopefully that'll be enough to start the season.

“I wasn't really expecting what happened last season. Attitude-wise, you really have to stick with it and grind through when you're not playing.  When you are playing, you need to make sure no one takes the shirt off you.”