As things stand, the striker situation at Newcastle United is a bit of a mess.
Going into a Champions League campaign, we currently only have one ‘senior’ striker actively playing for the club in young Will Osula, with Alexander Isak unlikely to play another game for Newcastle United ever again.
The sale of Isak is, quite rightly, dependent on whether or not we bring in at least one quality forward to replace him. Currently, our priority seems to be bringing in Benjamin Sesko, for whom we are currently in a tug of war for with Manchester United.
Sesko would be a major coup for Newcastle, which would also be particularly important for improving our current reputation and standing in world football following numerous rejections from players in favour of the ‘big six’ clubs. Beating Manchester United to a player would be a major statement, and Sesko himself certainly appears to have a very high ceiling. However, I personally believe our priorities may not be entirely in order.
Given the impending and, likely, inevitable departure of Isak, I believe Newcastle United’s number one priority this summer should be to sign Brentford forward Yoane Wissa. That may sound odd, but let me explain why we’d be wise to get this one done first.
Firstly, especially given the aforementioned lack of players who have wanted to join the club this summer, Wissa has made it abhorrently clear that he wants to play for Newcastle United. There is no doubt he is looking over his shoulder at other, perhaps more lucrative suitors, and that desire to join the club is in and of itself a vital trait.
More importantly, Wissa might genuinely be one of the most underrated strikers to play in the Premier League in my lifetime. Perhaps it’s down to the fact he does not represent a flashy team or nation, or mainly due to his slightly older age than most teams usually pursue in the transfer market, but his Premier League proven goal scoring ability is absolutely outstanding. With 19 Premier League goals last season, none of them from the spot, Wissa was the second highest non penalty goalscorer in the league last season, ahead of the £150 million pound Alexander Isak, and only behind Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
Some fans have responded somewhat negatively, or at least nowhere near as positively as I believe they should have, to our pursuit of Wissa mainly down to his age.
Wissa is 28, soon to be 29, and admittedly is unlikely to turn a profit. However, we have no intention of becoming a selling club, and it’s not as if 28 is anywhere near the end of a player’s career.
Some of the best strikers in world football right now include a 36 year old Robert Lewandowski, who is still putting up astronomical numbers in La Liga for Barcelona, and a 32 year old Harry Kane, who has won back to back golden boots since arriving in the Bundesliga. That’s without even mentioning Mohammed Salah, who is still arguably the best player in the world at 33 years of age. I doubt there’s any fan of Bayern, Barcelona or Liverpool who is overly concerned about the resale value of any of their star forwards.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand how signing a young striker from abroad for a club record fee is more exciting than a 28 year old Brentford striker we are all a bit more familiar with. Let’s be honest, the fact 95% of us haven’t seen Sesko play more than a few games (other than in a YouTube goals compilation) almost makes him more exciting than a proven Premiership player, given the excitement that comes with the unknown.
In an ideal world, of course, we would bring both strikers into the club, and I pray that is still the intention. However, given just how instrumental Alexander Isak was in both our league and cup success last season, I believe signing somebody who has proved themselves capable of matching his tally in the Premier League should be priority number one, even at the expense of ‘resale value’.
I think you’re slightly missing the point about age on purchases. It’s not about being a “selling club”, it’s about long term investments. If we want to catch up with the biggest clubs, we need to make our money work more. Every penny we spend should achieve more than the money they spend. The club doing better than us at this recently are Chelsea, as they are also buying young and able to sell on these assets for slight gains as they improve but also reinvest more each time due to amortisation. We’re also doing it so we have a cohesive unit of a squad who have developed together and known how each other play.
Buying someone over 27 is a short term investment that might help us play 3 good season, but then they become a liability and a stumbling block for the project to be the best team in the world. Having someone past their peak, earning wages, difficult to move on… They end up staying for 5 years with less return each year. We then aren’t able to improve that squad position due to wage limits.
Buying young is and should be our focus , and buying at the highest potential we can get too… If they get sold, we get a profit and can reinvest. If they claim their potential and stick around, they contribute towards us being a real force for many years. And, we can still potentially sell them when they’re approaching 30 to clubs who are addicted to short fixes (like Manu, who splash out on casemero or west ham on fulkrug or any Italian club etc…).
Wissa has 1 or 2 good years for numbers, but a lot were tap ins and those goals really depends on the team getting the ball into those areas for him. Without the service his numbers would be crud. But sesko pulls wonder goals out of nothing, worse numbers but has potential to get very high (klose sort of numbers) with better positioning – which can be coached. Huge ceiling. Him and isak would be a class combination of strikers and really exciting for a good 6 years
tomatao(Quote)
‘Young Osula’ is the same age as Šeško you know? So if young Will doesn’t push on this year he’ll be moved on I’d expect.
Can see the benefit of Wissa as a Wilson replacement but to compare him with Kane and Lewandowski is ridiculous. Those 2 have been outstanding for entire careers not just 2 years. Bringing a player like that rather than a top player/prospect sends the wrong message to the squad and other targets about our ambitions
Keith(Quote)
I would get Wissa in, he will score given the service we can provide, If Isak goes we need a proven striker and him alongside Sesko should be enough.
I do agree that long term we should buy young but at this moment in time we are desperate if Isak goes. If Isak stays then Wissa as Wilsons replacement is a good option.
kimtoon(Quote)
Great business if Wissa and Sesko were bought and money left over for a centre back by selling Isak, who is determined to leave. Can’t keep a dissatisfied player.
Peter Beaumont(Quote)