There seems to be a three-way tussle going on at Newcastle United right now over the future of one of its big stars.
Newcastle are looking to trim a few first-team players from the squad this summer to allow room, and to free up budget, to bring in extra bodies.
There's one player though, that the board and the manager disagree on and that's Callum Wilson.
The £20million signing from Bournemouth has an exceptional strike rate for Newcastle but his age and his injury record are huge concerns.
The board feel it's time for him to move on while we can still get a decent fee while Eddie Howe is desperate to keep him on the books. Both sides have valid arguments.
Howe feels that Wilson can still do a job at least as a backup striker and also cites how difficult and expensive he'd be to replace, but the board see his lack of availability as an issue.
Now the player himself is caught in the middle, with The Telegraph saying he'd be open to a new challenge after falling behind Alexander Isak in the pecking order.
When he's fit there aren't many strikers more prolific in the Premier League, so if he is sold on, someone would be getting an outstanding player for a few games a season.
However, if he does go, that leaves Eddie Howe needing to find two strikers for his squad and bringing in one is going to be difficult and expensive enough.
We doubt it's what Wilson would want, but keeping him as a third-choice striker behind Isak and whoever we manage to bring in this summer would make sense then we could replace him next summer.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
7 | 11 | 18 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
7 | 9 | 17 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
7 | 8 | 14 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
7 | 3 | 14 |
6 |
Brighton
|
7 | 3 | 12 |
7 |
Newcastle United
|
7 | 1 | 12 |
8 |
Fulham
|
7 | 2 | 11 |
9 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
7 | 6 | 10 |
10 |
Nottingham Forest
|
7 | 1 | 10 |
11 |
Brentford
|
7 | 0 | 10 |
12 |
West Ham United
|
7 | -1 | 8 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
7 | -2 | 8 |
14 |
Manchester United
|
7 | -3 | 8 |
15 |
Leicester
|
7 | -3 | 6 |
16 |
Everton
|
7 | -8 | 5 |
17 |
Ipswich
|
7 | -8 | 4 |
18 |
Crystal Palace
|
7 | -5 | 3 |
19 |
Southampton
|
7 | -11 | 1 |
20 |
Wolves
|
7 | -12 | 1 |