Newcastle United lost to Celtic in nightmare fashion in their latest pre-season test.
Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops ran out emphatic 4-0 victors over Eddie Howe’s low-on-energy Toon on Saturday, with one of the main talking points at the final whistle coming in the form of Alexander Isak.
Now being linked with a mega-money switch to Al-Hilal he was left out completely from the disastrous runout in Scotland.
Howe did insist after the game that Isak is happy to remain at the Toon for the foreseeable future, but transfer rumblings away from this ongoing situation suggest that the Premier League side do have striker targets in mind as they prepare for any possible eventuality.
Newcastle agree personal terms with £50m centre-forward
Indeed, it’s no great secret at St James’ Park that a new centre-forward is a priority this summer.
After all, even if Isak does stay, Howe only has a raw William Osula he can rely on for some back-up firepower, with RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko allegedly on the Toon shop-list to add more explosive options up top after Hugo Ekitike moved to Liverpool, rather than Tyneside.
Any deal to bring the Slovenian attacker to Newcastle would reportedly cost the Premier League outfit a whopping £78m, with a far cheaper deal potentially on the horizon/
As per reports on the continent, Newcastle have now agreed personal terms with long-term target Yoane Wissa, but are still pushing hard for a club-to-club agreement with Brentford, as the Bees remain hesitant about the Magpies’ offer, having already lost Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United.
It remains to be seen what Newcastle have bid for the standout Brentford number 11, with previous reports suggesting he was available for around the £50m mark.
Why Wissa would be a better signing than Sesko
For such an amount, Newcastle should really be pushing hard to get a deal over the line, as the DR Congo international is a far better option than Sesko, not just in terms of being a cheaper acquisition.
Of course, nobody at Newcastle would be up in arms if Sesko were to join the building, even for such an extortionate fee.
Back in the Bundesliga, the powerful striker has garnered a reputation for being an ice-cold finisher of chances, with a bumper tally of 39 strikes coming the one-time Arsenal target’s way from 87 outings in Germany.
Yet, Wissa can boast even more strikes for the Bees than Sesko has registered for Leipzig – despite the 22-year-old’s lethal reputation – with a stellar 45 Premier League goals next to his name from 137 clashes, 19 of which came about just last season in West London.
Sekso lags just behind, in contrast, with five fewer goals in German top-flight action across the 24/25 campaign.
It’s not just goals alone that separates the pair, however, with Wissa also bettering his Slovenian counterpart in many different areas of their respective games, while also already knowing the ins and outs of the intense Premier League environment.
Total shots
2.77
2.54
Shot-creating actions
2.13
1.80
Attempted passes
18.13
22.62
Pass completion %
76.5%
66.9%
Progressive passes
2.07
1.55
Progressive carries
1.85
1.68
Touches in attacking penalty area
5.03
3.51
When looking at the table above, it’s clear Newcastle would be landing themselves an attacking diamond in Wissa for £50m, as opposed to rashly gambling on an expensive alternative.
The 5-foot-9 menace is perhaps more suited to linking up with the likes of Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga in his fresh home, when you consider he trumps Sesko by averaging more shot-creating actions and accurate passes per 90 minutes over the last year.
Moreover, the “remarkable” forward – as he’s been labelled in the past by European football expert Zach Lowy – also averaged far more touches in the attacking penalty area over the last year, meaning he could be just the lively poacher-like presence Howe is searching for in the same mould as Isak.
Sesko might well be seen as a shinier, newer thing coming in from foreign shores, but if it were between the Leipzig number 30 and the 28-year-old, Newcastle should press on with sealing Wissa’s signature, especially if they’re already at the personal terms stage in proceedings.
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