Paul Merson believes Newcastle United made a mistake not signing 'handful' from Premier League rivals
Newcastle United will end the summer with Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa as striker options after selling Alexander Isak and Will Osula and releasing Callum Wilson.
While we still take issue with the fact that it means Newcastle go into another season with just two recognised strikers on the books, we can't really complain about the standard of striker we ultimately ended up with.
After missing out on Hugo Ekitike, Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Benjamin Sesko it seemed like we would end up with two decent strikers rather than one good striker and one exceptional one.
It may take Nick Woltemade a while to adapt to the Premier League but his record for Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart, as well as the German U21 side tells us that he's got all the qualities to be a success in England with a ceiling that will allow him to become the ideal replacement for Alexander Isak in time.
Paul Merson can't believe Newcastle didn't sign Nicolas Jackson
As for Yoane Wissa, he's a proven Premier League goal scorer, and while we aren't keen on how he got here, we're sure he'll be a success.
However, Paul Merson believes Newcastle missed a trick by not signing Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea, who looks to finally be on his way to Bayern Munich after all. Merson told Sky Sports News this afternoon that he is shocked Jackson didn't go to Tyneside (h/t Geordie Boot Boys).
“How Newcastle have not gone after him I do not know,” he said.
“They’ve gone and got that lad from Germany, who we don’t know what’s going happen, he’s never played in the Premier League, I’ve never seen him play.
“Nicolas Jackson, he’s a handful. He made [Cole] Palmer as good as Palmer made him. I’m shocked that he’s not gone anywhere else.”
Yoane Wissa finished higher in the scoring charts than Nicolas Jackson
We'd have taken Jackson as a Wissa alternative, but not a Woltemade alternative. Nick Woltemade was one of the top names on the NUFC Feed office's list of summer targets after his showing at the U21 Euros, and we were absolutely buzzing when he signed.
Meanwhile, we were never convinced by Jackson as a main striker purchase, only as that 'Callum Wilson replacement'. We'd have said he'd have been too expensive for that role, though, but that was before we ended up spending £55 million on Yoane Wissa.
Wissa out-scored Jackson convincingly last season, however, so we're happy with what we've got.
