Polarboy

I think it might be time to pull the cord on Ekitike. I don't know how reputable the medical expert that the chronic quoted is, or if he can really judge accurately without first hand knowledge or face to face examination, but supposedly the type of hamstring injury he had near the start of the year, his attempt to come back in April which was too early according to this expert, its reoccurrence which subsequently left him out until the final three La Liga games, and now another hamstring injury, point towards a botched recovery from the initial injury, which could mean he has these reoccurring hamstring injuries for the rest of his career. 30m is a lot of money to be spending on someone who could miss as much if not more game time than Wilson each season. Of course, again, this is dependent on how accurate this medical experts opinion is. The question is who do we go after if not Ekitike. I suppose putting our entire focus on getting DCL in might be the way to go, and then we could perhaps get that young Portuguese winger to add some depth to the squad, plus another goal scoring wide player like Sarr, plus Eriksen and perhaps Paqueta. That should add more than enough goals and creativity to the team along with ASM and Wilson.

He's short for a keeper at 6ft, even Shay had him beat at 6,1. But if he's a regular in the Bundesliga and for the Swiss national team be must be decent.

NUFC eye surprise move for Swiss international entering final 12 months of contract - TalkSPORT | NUFC blog – Newcastle United blog – NUFC Fixtures, News and Forum. The source is Alex Crook off Talksport, so take it for what you will, but supposedly we've shifted our focus from Henderson to Schar's Swiss international team-mate Yann Sommer. It obviously wouldn't be surprising if Man U are playing silly beggars again with Henderson much like they did with Lingard.

Newcastle bid for Keane Lewis-Potter | thisisfutbol.com We're supposedly after some young winger off Hull. Of course the source is some supposedly in the know source that appears on a West Ham podcast, so large boulder of salt perhaps needed. He's had some decent stats these last two seasons. The step up from League One to the Championship wasn't too much for him by the looks of it. Chris Waugh has joined Edwards in saying that we're still hopeful of signing Botman.

Targett, Ekitike and Botman for around 50m up front would be phenomenal business. The perfect window would be adding DCL and Sarr on top of that. Of course if our budget really is 90m, some were even saying 60m, we'd need to sell a few players that will actually bring some cash in. Almiron and Lascelles could perhaps generate 20m+ if Ashworth works his magic. Or at the very least those two along with the rest of the scraps of our current squad may add up to 30m. Our budget would need to be closer to 90m plus the player sales, even with staggered payments, to afford DCL and Sarr though I would imagine. We'd be missing a new keeper of course, but I think the attacking third is a more pressing concern. Oh and of course getting someone like Eriksen in on a free would be more than perfect.

It could be that they are more or less working on AC's behalf, and by saying that they've moved away it puts pressure on Botman and his agents to decide quickly and take what they're offering.

Not sure why them getting Sanches would stop them from getting Botman given they play in different positions. I mean unless they are working with a quite limited budget. As far as I'm aware Sanches is valued at 15-20m.

Yeah, likely the same story for Osimhen as well given Bayern are supposedly in for him. DCL seems the most likely of the three.

Well who knows if we are actually serious about putting a bid in. There were a few articles saying that it's down to us and Man U for Nunez as well, but I'd say DCL would be the cheaper of the two. Plus there's some disagreement between football journos about whether we're going to go for a big name striker if and when we finally get Ekitike confirmed. DCL, Nunez or Osimhen seem to be the three names if indeed we are going to go flat out for a big name after Ekitike. As I was saying before it's difficult to see where we would fit everyone in. Again Ekitike can play out wide, Wood probably won't complain too much about being on the bench. and Wilson unfortunately will likely be injured for 8-15 games, but even still it could be a very tricky balancing act.

Everton have supposedly set a price of 50m for DCL. Given how much English players are usually overpriced, this seems not that bad while still probably being about 5 to 10m overpriced. We might end up being thankful that DCL had a terrible season with injuries, Everton had such a bad season, and subsequently desperately need money to rebuild. On the negative side he has his own line in handbags 😑😂

With £30m Ekitike deal agreed, Newcastle can now sign 20-goal striker too (hitc.com) A Russian U21 striker 😂 In for a penny in for a pound in terms of bad publicity from the media if this is in any way accurate. Not that Russian citizens should all be tarred with the brush of their states actions in any case. The Wimbledon thing was ridiculous. But obviously the media will use any ammunition they can get against us.

Exclusive: Eddie Howe set for face-to-face talks with Premier League playmaker | NUFC blog – Newcastle United blog – NUFC Fixtures, News and Forum. I'd definitely take Eriksen, especially seeing as it would be on a free. It's a no brainer really, he's got that intelligence, creativity, guile and cutting edge that we're missing in midfield. Hopefully there's some substance to these reports.

https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2022/06/07/newcastle-in-talks-to-sign-croatian-international-club-willing-to-sell-for-17m/ Don't know much about him given I don't watch the Austrian Bundesliga, but supposedly he helped turn the game between Croatia and France when he came on the other night. Left footed, says Modric is his idol, and his style of play has been compared to Modric. Still only 19 so he could have a very high ceiling of potential. If Ekitike gets confirmed the ideal situation of course would be for both of them to break into the first team next season.

Sarr is the back up to Diaby if you believe Sky, and supposedly Watford are willing to take a sensible offer given their relegation, and the fact that Sarr is into the last two years of his contract. If Leverkusen really are asking for 60+ then Sarr could be a decent alternative if we can get him for 25-35. Sarr at least knows the league, he's still young at 24, and in a decent team I think he could at least approach double figures for both goals and assists if you look at his record for Watford in the PL.

Newcastle continue talks with Man Utd over Dean Henderson (90min.com) According to reports we've agreed terms with Henderson and all that's left it to either negotiate a price, or persuade Man U to allow us to take him on loan for the season, most likely so we can spread costs. I can't see Man U being too accommodating given how they seemed to act over Lingard, but perhaps Ten Hag backs himself and isn't worried about us getting ahead of them. Even still though I'd imagine they'll want a fee to supplement their own kitty for Ten Hag's squad rebuild. If we can get a top class keeper like Henderson, who's only just turned 25, for around the twenty million mark that's discussed in the article, then it will be a great bit of business. I'm not convinced that he's a level or two above Dubravka, but he's certainly as good as, so the competition between the two could keep both on their toes.

Mark Douglas has contradicted Keith Downie and has said that we want at least one more striker in after Ekitike, should that deal be finalised. From what I've seen of Douglas he doesn't tend to make definitive statements unless he actually knows something, and I'd tend to trust him a lot more over some of the stuff Downie comes away with, but perhaps someone can tell me different. It's an interesting one if Howe intends to keep playing with one up top, which most teams do nowadays. If you have Wilson, Wood, Ekitike, and one other you wonder how they'll all get enough minutes. Wood probably won't be that hard to handle, he'll probably not kick up too much of a fuss, Wilson will unfortunately likely be injured for a long stretch at some point, but both Ekitike and presumably whoever else we bring in won't want to be farting about being an understudy to Wilson, waiting for him to get injured. Ekitike can play out wide as well of course.

Can't see Cavani wanting to share the number 9 spot with Wilson after the time he had at Man U, especially given his age. He'll want to be the main man and guaranteed starter.

Hasn't signed yet, and obviously YouTube compilations can make anyone look special, but his first touch is undeniably decent, to put it mildly.

Well the good thing about Ekitike is that he can play off the left as well as at CF, so it could be ASM getting the hump next season. I suspect Ekitike will be introduced slowly, but will probably get plenty of minutes either starting ahead of ASM or standing in for Wilson. There's even the option of playing Wilson off the right and Ekitike up front, given Wilson is more than capable of playing wide right in a front three. Having two strikers that can also play out wide would give us some great versatility. If we signed someone like Jesus as well, but according to Downie we won't, it would given Howe numerous options and attacking configurations.

Looks like I was correct in that we'd only be buying one striker in that rough price range, not that it's rocket science, if indeed Downie has his facts straight. Again it's worrying how much we could find ourselves relying on Ekitike at certain points next season if he's our main and sole central striking target. Of course I'm sure Eddie will want more goals from midfield as well from whoever we get, be that Diaby or whomever else.