Newcastle United failed to add a first-team-ready striker to the squad this summer instead opting to bring in 'project player' Will Osula who has yet to make any type of impact.
Reduced to just the briefest of cameos in the Premier League and a Carabao Cup run out against AFC Wimbledon, Will Osula was clearly not the answer to fixing the issue of having just two first team strikers with a tendency to pick up injuries.
Callum Wilson spends more time injured than he does available while Alexander Isak is more reliable, but has still suffered more than his fair share of injuries since joining the club.
Newcastle flirted with the idea of signing ready-to-go strikers in the summer before signing Osula.
Perhaps the closest we came to signing a striker was entering negotiations with Everton over Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but when the Toffees refused to budge on their £40 million valuation the deal fell apart.
It seems that Newcastle remain keen on the 27-year-old and the Magpies could revisit the deal in January to try and pick him up for a lower fee with the striker's contract due to expire in the summer.
With a takeover on the horizon for Everton, Calvert-Lewin's intentions are up in the air and clubs are looking to take advantage with Italian giants Juventus reportedly set to rival Newcastle for the former England international according to The Chronicle.
Callum Wilson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are very similar players both in style and their strike rate when fit, however they both have shocking injury records too.
Calvert Lewin could get us through the back half of the season if we were to pick him up in January, but when Callum Wilson inevitably leaves in the summer we'd be back in the exact same position we have been in for the last two seasons with Isak forced to do too much and eventually breaking down with his own injury.
We need a striker who can stay fit, not another one who will spend so much time on the sidelines that they might as well not be in the squad. Obviously there are no guarantees that anyone we bring in can stay fit, but we should at least give ourselves a head start by not signing someone who is already known for having a terrible injury record.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |