Fair to say, this transfer window has not gone to plan for Newcastle United.
The Magpies have seen countless targets opt to join Premier League rivals; Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Liam Delap, João Pedro, James Trafford and now Benjamin Šeško, to name but a few.
RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko reacts
Winger Anthony Elanga and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale have both arrived, but Eddie Howe will surely be desperate to add more reinforcements this month, so could a new striker be on his way to Tyneside?
Newcastle's ongoing striker search
It's the transfer saga of the summer, so what is the latest on Alexander Isak?
Well, the Swede did not feature at all for Newcastle United during pre-season, currently training away from the rest of the first-team squad.
Meantime, over the weekend, Luke Edwards of the Telegraph reported that the club have informed Isak that 'he is not for sale this summer and will not be allowed' to leave; it remains to be seen how this will play out.
Newcastle United's Alexander Isak
Nevertheless, the Magpies do remain active in the transfer market, searching for a new possible replacement, hence why Craig Hope of the Daily Mail is reporting that they have made an 'informal enquiry' about Porto striker Samu Aghehowa, adding that he is valued at £80m by the Portuguese giants.
It's previously been documented that Aghehowa is Newcastle's top striker target, following Šeško's move to Manchester United, so could the Spaniard soon swap Northern Portugal for England's North East?
Samu 2024-25 stats (timeless)
Why Samu Aghehowa would be a success at Newcastle
Since joining Porto from Atlético Madrid for a reported fee of £12.7m last summer, having not played a single game for Atleti, Aghehowa has become one of the most highly-rated centre-forwards in European football.
During his debut campaign with the Dragões, he scored 27 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions, including netting six times in just nine Europa League outings, most notably bagging a brace during a thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Estádio do Dragão last October.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout was certainly impressed, labelling the Spanish international the "complete" striker and a "monster", praising his "pace, physicality, aerial ability and shot power".
Tall, quick and imposing, there really is a lot to like about the Porto forward, so, let's assess how Aghehowa of the present day compares to Isak just prior to his move to Tyneside.
Samu 2024/25 vs Isak 2021/22
Statistics
Appearances
Minutes
Goals
Assists
All statistics below are on a per-90 basis:
Shots
Shots on target %
Goals - xG
Shot-creating actions
Goal-creating actions
Big chances missed
Big chances created
% of touches in opposition box
As the table outlines, when comparing the Spaniard's first season at Porto to Isak's final campaign at Real Sociedad, they're remarkably very similar.
The hulking attacker did score six Europa League goals to the Swede's three, on target a whopping 17 times more across all competitions, albeit at a slightly lower level; Global Football Rankings believe the Primeira Liga to be the seventh strongest in the world, four places below La Liga.
The most interesting of Aghehowa's numbers is the fact he massively overperformed his expected goals, while Isak underperformed his during the 2021/22 campaign in San Sebastián, suggesting the Spaniard could be an even more clinical finisher.
Nevertheless, the data reaffirms their stylistic similarities, most notably the fact that the duo took a nigh-on identical proportion of their touches in the opposition's penalty area.
Thus, all available evidence suggests that, should he choose to move to Newcastle, Aghehowa could replicate Isak's impact at St James' Park for sure.