It has been a frustrating summer for Eddie Howe and Newcastle but there may be a chink of light as they approach Monday’s transfer deadline.
Having been rejected by the likes of Joao Pedro, Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and James Trafford – as well as having to deal with wantaway striker Alexander Isak – the club are poised to finally land a major target with Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade set to join in a deal that could rise to £65million.
It appears a hefty gamble with 23-year-old Woltemade having scored just 14 goals in 76 Bundesliga appearances for Werder Bremen and Stuttgart but at 6ft 6in he fits the physical profile of a Howe player.
Positive signs over Woltemade, says Howe
Asked about the Germany international today, Howe said: “Positive signs. Things are moving and developing in a good way at the moment. Until things are done, I can’t confirm anything.
“The most important thing is to bring a centre forward in which we have been working on all summer, and we’re getting closer.
“It’s been relentless, it’s a demanding window in lots of different ways. The work that’s gone in, it’s been detailed, it has to be, we have to bring the right players to the football club.
“We look like we’re getting closer, we’re certainly working in the right direction. It’ll be good when the window closes, we can focus on what we do. The emotion around the window will be gone, but there are benefits to the window.”
What that means for Isak remains unclear. The Sweden international remains desperate to quit Tyneside for Liverpool with talks with club directors earlier this week failing to bring about a resolution.
Howe added: “Difficult for me to give you clarity on the future [of Isak], I don’t know what the future holds, I’m not dealing with it myself, I’ve got no update, I’m concentrating on bringing players to the club.”
Double injury boost or Newcastle
There was also good news on the fitness of Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.
Tonali injured a shoulder in trying to win a free-kick during the 3-2 defeat to Liverpool on Monday night while Joelinton limped off with a groin problem.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow evening’s game at Leeds, Howe said: “Relatively good news on both players. When they left the pitch [against Liverpool] we feared they’d be out long term because it didn’t look good for either but Joelinton’s scan was relatively good – he will miss this weekend but there’s a chance he could be available the other side of the international break.
“Similar for Tonali, I think his injury isn’t serious, he’s battling to be fit for tomorrow but whether he will make it I’m not sure. But really positive signs because we thought we’d be losing them for longer.”
Anthony Gordon will miss the game at Elland Road after being shown a red card against Liverpool for a terrible challenge on Virgil van Dijk.
