The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas believes Genk striker Mbwana Samatta could be ‘one to watch’ this month – despite the ‘noise’ around his potential move to Newcastle drying down recently.
In his latest piece looking at all 23 players linked a January moves to Newcastle, he’s named the 27-year-old alongside Ademola Lookman and U-23 target Reagan Thompson as three ‘possible’ arrivals – and you can see why.
Not only is Samatta scoring goals for fun – bagging 42 goals in the last season and a half in Belgium – his release clause of £10m means he could be the sort of bargain Mike Ashley would happily sanction.
Here’s what Douglas has said about the striker, saying he could be ‘one to watch’ this month:
“The 27-year-old has a £10million release clause in his contract.
“The noise around it has died down recently but perhaps one to watch with Premier League clubs watching.”
With 10 goals in already this season – including 3 goals in 6 Champions League appearances – and a stunning 32 goals in all competitions last season, he’s clearly got an eye for goal, but a player scoring for fun in one of Europe’s lesser leagues is far from certain to hit it off in the Premier League.
£10m could be seen as a real bargain should he come in and have a Papiss Cisee-esque impact, but for every Cisse there’s a Luuk De Jong, Islam Slimani or Seydou Doumbia!
Here’s him in action:
