'He's poor': Simon Jordan is clearly not a fan of £50m striker heavily linked with Newcastle United

Newcastle United's search for a new striker in the summer took them down some strange alleys as they hunted for replacements for Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson.

Before the Magpies signed Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, they had been linked with many strikers of varying quality and abilities.

Perhaps the strangest of them all was Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen who had only just signed for Wolves on a permanent deal in the summer.

After a fairly successful loan spell at Wolves, other clubs had taken note, and Newcastle were ready to take the Norwegian out of Wolves' paws almost immediately after they'd made his move permanent.

Newcastle almost forked out £50 million for Jorgen Strand Larsen

Newcastle even had a £50 million bid rejected by Wolves before moving on to other targets, and given Strand Larsen's form this season, it feels like we dodged a bullet.

Indeed, talkSPORT's Simon Jordan certainly thinks so as the Wolves striker was discussed on his show with Jim White toda,y in which it was stated that Nottingham Forest and even Tottenham Hotspur still hold an interest in signing him this month.

"The Emperor's new clothes, mate. Pay £50million for that rubbish? Good luck.

"He's poor. Look at him the other day, he couldn't even take a bleeding penalty when they needed him to step up and do it.

"I think he's a poor player. I think for £60million, Wolves should have sent him round in a cab, gift wrapped."

We'll stick with Yoane Wissa, thanks

Obviously things may have worked out very differently for Strand Larsen this season had he moved to Newcastle. You can't say his form at Wolves who are rock bottom of hte PRemier League, would be the same if he were at Newcastle with an entirely different set of players around him.

However, it's hard not to think that we got away with one here, even though we paid £55 million for Yoane Wissa who missed nearly half a season through injury. So far.

The fact that Jorgen Strand Larsen is still being touted as being worth £50m - £60 million suggests that those in the know still rate him, so we'll see what happens.