Eddie Howe's Newcastle United must return to the drawing board in their pursuit of a versatile forward after losing out on Brighton's João Pedro to Chelsea.
Once Chelsea entered the race for João Pedro, there was only ever going to be one outcome, which has left Newcastle having to find alternative targets for a player who can play through the middle and cover out wide if needed.
While João Pedro could have been an alternative striker to Alexander Isak and Will Osula, Newcastle don't seem to be on the lookout for an out-and-out centre-forward, but rather someone who can play there if needed, but can also cover a variety of roles.
Anthony Elanga is still expected to be the first choice to fill the right wing role, and a report from The Boot Room has suggested that Newcastle could now be looking at Liverpool's Harvey Elliott after missing out on Pedro.
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2024 07 26 342 Liverpool Real Betis
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Harvey Elliott - A good alternative to João Pedro?
Newcastle are now looking at Harvey Elliott after missing out on João Pedro
While the two players are very different, Harvey Elliott has shown this summer that he knows how to find the back of the net playing as a forward for England Under-21s as they retained their European Championship title. Elliott even picked up the Player of the Tournament award for his goal-scoring efforts and all-around performances.
Harvey Elliott has already told Liverpool of his desire to leave the club in search of regular football after barely being used by Arne Slot last season, with the Reds setting an asking price of £50 million for the 22-year-old.
Newcastle have been notably interested in Elliott since before he stated his desire to leave Liverpool, and indeed before he showed the world what he can do at the Euros.
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The question is, would Harvey Elliott get into our starting XI?
We've made no secret about our desire to bring Elliott to Tyneside, but our biggest issue is that we're not totally sure where he would fit in in terms of bagging regular minutes right now.
He's not going to disrupt the main trio of midfielders in Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton. Should we sign Anthony Elanga for the right wing, he'll no doubt start there, he won't dislodge Anthony Gordon on the left either, and we don't currently play with a number 10, which is ideally where we'd like to see him deployed.
There have been rumours about Eddie Howe tweaking his system next season so we could see a new tactic employed in which we do play with a roaming forward behind Alexander Isak, and that's where we could see Harvey Elliott shine, but unless he's willing to wait for his chance, we can honestly see him ending up elsewhere.