'The most likely destination': Journalist now says Newcastle United are at the front of the queue for £76m striker
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Newcastle United are now being reported as the frontrunners in the race for the signature of a highly-rated striker.
It's a familiar story that we've heard a couple of times already this summer, so here's hoping that it's a case of third time lucky.
Having missed out on Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike, Newcastle are continuing to work their way down the list of top-quality strikers who can keep the pressure on Alexander Isak to perform in order to keep his place in the first team. We saw with Callum Wilson in the season before last that having that pressure of not being so sure that his place in the team was guaranteed helped to up his game.
RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko has been reported as a potential target, but it now looks as though the Magpies have Paris Saint-Germain's Randal Kolo Muani in their sights.
Newcastle is Randal Kolo Muani's 'most likely destination'
We reported this morning that Newcastle were looking at the France international, and now journalist Duncan Castles has claimed on The Transfers Podcast that Newcastle are at the front of the queue for the 26-year-old.
“Unsurprisingly there’s interest from England because there’s been interest from England in Kolo Muani for years.
“He went to PSG ahead of interest from clubs including Manchester United, what I’m hearing from the French end is that there’s been enquiries from Manchester United about his availability, but I don’t think they are as advanced as they are with other clubs.
“Newcastle United are involved in this conversation and I think at present it looks like they are the most likely destination for Kolo Muani.
“And again, this makes you wonder, what is happening with Isak? Because of his similarities to Isak, I’m not saying that the two couldn’t be paired together, but pairing Ekitike with Isak was a simple process, an easy thing to do, and you would be bringing a player into the club who could be Isak’s successor.
“With Kolo Muani I think it would take a change in Eddie Howe’s tactical set-up to play the two together.”
How much will PSG demand for Randal Kolo Muani?
Newcastle's interest in Kolo Muani is nothing new either, with the club having kept an eye on him since his time at Eintracht Frankfurt.
As we said this morning, this one seems to depend on what kind of money PSG are looking for. He's clearly not part of their plans, but he was an expensive acquisition, having forked out £76 million for him in 2023, so we're sure they'll want to recoup a big chunk of that.
Do we believe that we're the 'most likely destination'? Not really. But that's purely because we've been here twice before, and here we are, still looking.
