Newcastle United turn their attention to £50m Premier League forward after cooling interest in Hugo Ekitike - David Ornstein
Fabrizio Romano reported this morning that Newcastle United were out of the race for Hugo Ekitike, allowing Liverpool a clearer run at the French forward.
When Romano's news hit, it was greeted with a degree of scepticism, and we offered a few scenarios that could have explained things.
However, almost at around the same time as Romano's claims were made, David Ornstein posted on X that Newcastle had cooled their interest in Ekitike, so who knows, perhaps it's true.
Ornstein went as far as to offer up an alternative target for Newcastle, though, saying that the Magpies have diverted their attention to Brentford forward Yoane Wissa.
Yoane Wissa is Newcastle's main striker target after cooling interest in Hugo Ekitike
In Ornstein's article for The Athletic, he goes on to state that Newcastle have yet to approach Brentford, but have the 28-year-old (he turns 29 in September) high on their list.
Nottingham Forest have already had a bid for Wissa rejected by Brentford. They are holding out for around £50 million for the striker, but it's very understandable given that he was the highest Premier League scorer last season, if you remove penalties from the equation.
Any deal for Wissa would also depend on what's happening with Bryan Mbeumo's move to Manchester United, with Brentford only willing to part with one of their main attacking threats, having already lost their manager and their captain this summer.
Would you be happy to let Hugo Ekitike slip away in favour of signing Yoane Wissa?
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Yes50%
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No50%
Yoane Wissa to Newcastle actually makes a ton of sense
Even if it feels like we are overpaying for Wissa, he'll still be way cheaper than Hugo Ekitike, and it is Premier League proven, which is another advantage.
Obviously, with Ekitike, we'd have been future-proofing our squad, whereas Wissa will need replacing in a couple of years. Although again, that's going off the old idea that players start to decline after 30, which is becoming less of a fact in the modern game with players going on to play at a high level well into their thirties these days.
Is Yoane Wissa as exciting as Hugo Ekitike? Probably not. But if this turns out to be true, Newcastle have played a blinder. They'd get a proven goal-scorer, they'd keep Alexander Isak while Liverpool spend a fortune on Hugo Ekitike, thinking they've got the better of us, and potentially even block Manchester United from getting Bryan Mbeumo.
I think I just talked myself into wanting this deal to happen.
