When his loan spell at Swansea City comes to an end, it appears that Newcastle will be the next club looking to take on the signature of Steven Caulker with a view to a summer move.

The defender has impressed greatly during his loan spell at the Liberty Stadium but his playing time has been limited largely by a knee cartilage injury picked up early on in the season that ruled him out for three months.

Despite this, the 20 year-old has made 16 starts for the Swans this campaign and is being tipped to feature in future England lineups and has already featured in four matches for the Under-21 side, most recent of which was a classy 4-0 victory over Belgium Under-21s in February.

After coming through the Tottenham Hotspur academy, Caulker was being protracted by some to break into the first team setup at White Hart Lane but the North London outfit chose to farm out the starlet instead with the likes of Willian Gallas, Ledley King, Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul holding down the centre-back position dominantly.

Newcastle are reportedly in the market for a central defender and were reported to be very close to tying up a deal for Watford stopper, Adrian Mariappa, in January only for the deal to seemingly collapse.

Christopher Samba, Scott Dann and James Collins were also being linked with moves to the Sports Direct Arena after Steven Taylor was ruled out for the remainder of the 2011-12 campaign and although the defender will recover in time for the next term, Alan Pardew is still though to be searching for defensive reinforcements.

Should Harry Redknapp be in charge at Tottenham next season, he may consider handing the youngster his opportunity in the starting XI and reject any advances that do come his way.

However, if Caulker does make a move to the Magpies, Spurs will want in excess of £5m for their England prospect.