Newcastle United fans have their fingers crossed that Alexander Isak will be passed fit to play on Saturday otherwise we go without a striker again.
Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson have both been injured for the last couple of games meaning Newcastle have fielded a team without a recognised striker, and it's something that needs to be addressed in the January transfer window.
Eddie Howe had done a really good job of managing Callum Wilson's injuries, but once he lost Isak, Wilson had to play more games and that has taken its toll on the 31-year-old.
If Newcastle are to push on in the second half of the season they will need another option up front as cover in case this scenario happens again.
Transfer specialist Dean Jones has echoed these sentiments on the latest edition of the Chasing Green Arrows podcast.
“I know there are concerns at Newcastle at the moment about whether they need to sign a new forward in January because of Isak and Wilson. They can’t be undone by this, it would be gutting for them if they didn’t have another option,” Jones said.
“They really will contemplate going after another attacking option, it will probably be a versatile one that can play wide as well, Isak is a great option to go wide as well, but I don’t think they trust Isak to stay fit between now and the end of the season which is probably wise.”
Newcastle have been linked with Serhou Guirassy in the January window after the striker racked up 13 goals in just seven games (see below).
Guirassy has a €17million (£14.7million) release clause and Newcastle should already be standing at Stuttgart's door with a briefcase full of money to bring him to Tyneside.
We don't expect he'll continue the same ratio of goals per game in the Premier League, I mean, look at the difference in minutes per goal for Harry Kane since he went to the Bundesliga, it's clear you can just score for fun over there, but Guirassy still looks the business.
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 |