Newcastle transfer news: Eddie Howe should swoop to sign Scottish striker
By Jon Tait
With Callum Wilson ruled out through injury again, the Mags ideally require a big aggressive number nine to come in and smash defenders about as well as sticking the ball in the back of the net.
Wilson and Alexander Isak are both quick and skilful front men but they are lightweight, prone to picking up knocks and are hardly what you would describe as intimidating.
The game may have changed in so much as a possession-based system is the preference for coaches today – but the one thing that will never change is the impact that a target-man who can hold the ball up and muscle people out of his way will always have. That’s why Erling Haaland has been such a hit at Manchester City.
Harry Kane would have fitted the bill a couple of years ago. The Bayern Munich and England man could have been a hero in donning the shirt worn by Hughie Gallacher, Jackie Milburn, Malcolm MacDonald and Alan Shearer. But at 30-years-old you feel that any big investment to try and tempt him to St. James’s could possibly be better spent on a longer-term prospect.
Newcastle transfer news: Eddie Howe should swoop to sign Scottish striker
The suits in the boardroom and Eddie Howe will no doubt have a list of names and a budget that they will have in mind for the January window in what is traditionally a difficult position to fill. Everyone wants a proven goalscorer and their wages and price tag will reflect that.
Lawrence Shankland at Hearts is being eyed by a number of clubs and Newcastle will have no doubt taken a look at the Scottish forward themselves. It wouldn’t bust the finances to bring in someone from the unfashionable SPL and while Shankland isn’t the toothless Joe Jordan or Duncan Ferguson-type of hit-man, he could fit seamlessly into the squad alongside Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes.
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Six goals in six games have put Shankland firmly on many radars - and the boy in maroon could be the talk of the Toon if they were to make an offer to the Tynecastle club.
They might have to keep him off the penalties, though - he's missed two in a row.