Newcastle explore move for “remarkable” £50m CF

We finally seem to be at the end of the summer’s biggest saga so far, with Newcastle United’s pursuit of Hugo Ekitike seemingly ended by Liverpool. It was confirmed by journalist Julien Laurens that Eddie Howe’s side are ‘out of the race’ to sign the Frenchman.

Whilst that is a blow to the Magpies, with the striker seemingly set to move to the Reds now, it does increase the chances of Alexander Isak remaining at St James’ Park this season. Fabrizio Romano reported that Newcastle ‘insist’ on the fact that their first-choice striker is not available for sale this summer.

To help supplement Isak up front, it still seems as though the North East outfit will pursue a new number nine.

Newcastle’s new striker target

Whilst their move to sign Ekitike this summer failed to materialise, it still seems apparent that the Magpies wanted to sign a centre-forward this summer. Well, if the new reports to break are true, then that is still very much the case.

A recent report from talkSPORT confirms the fact that Newcastle are after another number nine this summer, and claim they ‘are ready to join the race’ for Brentford forward Yoane Wissa.

Howe and the higher-ups at St James’ Park might see an opportunity to sign the DR Congo because he is ‘pushing to leave’ the Gtech Community Stadium this summer.

However, there is fierce competition for the 28-year-old. He is wanted by former manager Thomas Frank, now at Tottenham Hotspur, with Nottingham Forest also showing keen interest, and have even placed a bid of £25m. However, that fell way short of Brentford’s valuation, which is double that, at £50m.

Why Wissa would be a good signing

There are clear signs of major improvement in Wissa’s game, who continues to get better and better the more Premier League football he plays. Back in June, journalist Zach Lowy described the attacker as a “remarkable” forward.

In 137 English top-flight games for the Bees, he has amassed an impressive goal tally of 45 strikes, chipping in with 13 assists. He’s managed double-figure goal involvements in three of his four Premier League seasons, and has hit such a milestone simply for goals in the last two seasons.

The 2024/25 campaign saw Wissa explode and have the season of his career so far. In 35 Premier League games, the Brentford number 11 found the back of the net 19 times and registered five assists. It is easy to see why they want £50m for his signature this summer.

Simply from a goalscoring point of view, the Brentford attacker actually had a better campaign than Ekitike managed last season. Whilst the Frenchman, who plays for Eintracht Frankfurt, did contribute eight assists in 33 Bundesliga games, he was not as clinical as Wissa.

The 23-year-old, who was born in Reims, only bagged 15 league goals for Eintracht in the 2024/25 campaign, four fewer than the DR Congo striker managed.

On top of that, Wissa had a better goalscoring streak, bagging goals in four consecutive league games, whilst Ekitike’s best was three. There are certainly stats which back up the fact that Wissa is a more clinical striker than Ekitike.

Looking at the numbers on Squawka, he has a better conversion rate, with 27.54% compared to the Frenchman’s 17.24%, showing just how well he takes his chances, and has more non-penalty goals per game, with 0.6 as opposed to 0.5.

Although it is a shame that the Magpies have missed out on signing Ekitike, Wissa could be the perfect player to rotate with Isak.

The Swedish attacker scored 23 Premier League goals last term, so they need a clinical number nine to match his goalscoring form.

Thus, Wissa could be the dream signing for Howe’s side this season, to help take Newcastle to the next level and continue their rise up the Premier League table.

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