Newcastle’s search for strikers has been a painful watch over the summer.
We’ve tried and failed to land Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko over the past two and a half months, and now a move for Yoane Wissa has been complicated by Brentford’s £50m demands.
Two are needed to sanction Alexander Isak’s sale; a quality option to replace the Swede (as best we can) and a second striker to fill the gap left by the released Callum Wilson.
One option that emerged as a potential replacement for Isak after Sesko picked Man Utd earlier this month was Porto star Samu Aghehowa.
David Ornstein revealed earlier this month that we were exploring a deal for the 21-year-old powerhouse, although it was made clearly by Craig Hope that a deal would be incredibly pricey, with Porto demanding around £80m.
That fee made a deal unlikely, but our hopes of landing the Spanish international may suffered one final blow last night as the big man suffered an injury in a Monday night win over Gil Vicente.
Samu looked distraught as he left the pitch and was in tears on the bench following his withdrawal.
There has been no clear update on the extent of his injury, but combine the whopping price tag with last night’s worrying scenes and it seems he may be another name to strike off that small list of striker options available to Newcastle!
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