Newcastle set to make bid to sign £40m striker

Which striker will Newcastle United end up with by the time the transfer window closes on 1 September?

Alexander Isak’s future on Tyneside remains up in the air, having not featured at all for the Magpies during pre-season, while the Swede was reportedly left furious after being told ‘he is not for sale this summer and will not be allowed’ to leave.

Meantime, as they aim to bring a striker in, the Toon Army have missed out on their first two targets, with Hugo Ekitiké instead joining Liverpool, while Benjamin Šeško’s move to Manchester United was confirmed over the weekend.

So now, could Newcastle revisit one of their long-standing targets, rather than being tempted by another available Premier League player?

Newcastle’s striker search

After Chelsea signed both Liam Delap and João Pedro earlier this summer, Jason Burt of the Telegraph is reporting that Nicolas Jackson has been told he will be allowed to leave the Blues this summer, with Newcastle his ‘preferred destination’.

Meantime, similar to Isak actually, Jackson is training alone at Cobham, with Chelsea willing to sanction a sale at around £65m.

However, do the Magpies have their sights set on a different Premier League centre-forward?

Well, as reported by Simon Jones of the Daily Mail, Newcastle are ‘expected to make an improved offer’ in their attempts to sign Brentford striker Yoane Wissa.

Earlier in the window, Newcastle saw a £25m bid rejected for the forward, who is valued at closer to £40m by the Bees, but, with the DR Congo international allegedly pushing for a move to Tyneside, could this transfer happen after all?

Why Newcastle should sign Yoane Wissa not Nicolas Jackson

Wissa was, without a doubt, one of the very best strikers in the Premier League last season.

The Brentford forward bagged 19 goals in the league, numbers comparable with the division’s very best, as the graphic below documents.

Junior Béton praised Wissa’s form as “incredible”, while manager Thomas Frank noted that “he is best as a number nine”, adding that his “remarkable” forward possesses a “nose for goals”.

Meantime, Mark Bruce of Breaking the Lines believes he is amongst the most ‘underrated’ players in the division, outlining how he has ‘shown extraordinary perseverance’ to reach the top, but is now ‘flourishing’ at Premier League level.

The question though still remains; how did he compare to Jackson?

As the table documents, Wissa scored nine more goals than Jackson in the Premier League, boasting a better goals-per-90 rate as well, impressively doing so for a side that finished six places lower.

The Brentford man also boasted better numbers in terms of expected goals, shooting accuracy and fewer big chances missed, while Jackson did come out on top for chances created metrics.

In conclusion, Newcastle should aim to secure Wissa’s signature, given that he’ll prove to be at least £25m cheaper than Jackson, using the saved money to bolster other areas of the squad, including defence, with Malick Thiaw poised to arrive from AC Milan for around £30m.