Even better than Sesko: Newcastle agree personal terms to sign £50m striker

[ad_1] Newcastle United misplaced to Celtic in nightmare trend of their newest pre-season check.

Brendan Rodgers' Hoops ran out emphatic 4-0 victors over Eddie Howe's low-on-energy Toon on Saturday, with one of many essential speaking factors on the ultimate whistle coming within the type of Alexander Isak.

Now being linked with a mega-money swap to Al-Hilal he was ignored utterly from the disastrous runout in Scotland.

Howe did insist after the sport that Isak is completely satisfied to stay on the Toon for the foreseeable future, however switch rumblings away from this ongoing scenario counsel that the Premier League aspect do have striker targets in thoughts as they put together for any attainable eventuality.

Newcastle agree private phrases with £50m centre-forward Certainly, it is no nice secret at St James' Park {that a} new centre-forward is a precedence this summer time.

In any case, even when Isak does keep, Howe solely has a uncooked William Osula he can depend on for some back-up firepower, with RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko allegedly on the Toon shop-list so as to add extra explosive choices up prime after Hugo Ekitike moved to Liverpool, moderately than Tyneside.

Any deal to carry the Slovenian attacker to Newcastle would reportedly price the Premier League outfit a whopping £78m, with a far cheaper deal doubtlessly on the horizon/

As per experiences on the continent, Newcastle have now agreed private phrases with long-term goal Yoane Wissa, however are nonetheless pushing exhausting for a club-to-club settlement with Brentford, because the Bees stay hesitant concerning the Magpies' supply, having already misplaced Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United.

It stays to be seen what Newcastle have bid for the standout Brentford quantity 11, with earlier experiences suggesting he was accessible for across the £50m mark.

Why Wissa can be a greater signing than Sesko For such an quantity, Newcastle ought to actually be pushing exhausting to get a deal over the road, because the DR Congo worldwide is a much better possibility than Sesko, not simply by way of being a less expensive acquisition.

In fact, no person at Newcastle can be up in arms if Sesko had been to affix the constructing, even for such an extortionate charge.

Again within the Bundesliga, the highly effective striker has garnered a repute for being an ice-cold finisher of possibilities, with a bumper tally of 39 strikes coming the one-time Arsenal goal's method from 87 outings in Germany.

But, Wissa can boast much more strikes for the Bees than Sesko has registered for Leipzig - regardless of the 22-year-old's deadly repute - with a stellar 45 Premier League targets subsequent to his identify from 137 clashes, 19 of which took place simply final season in West London.

Sekso lags simply behind, in distinction, with 5 fewer targets in German top-flight motion throughout the 24/25 marketing campaign.

It is not simply targets alone that separates the pair, nonetheless, with Wissa additionally bettering his Slovenian counterpart in many alternative areas of their respective video games, whereas additionally already realizing the ins and outs of the extreme Premier League setting.

Wissa vs Sesko (final 12 months)

Stat - per 90 minutes

Wissa

Sesko

Whole photographs

2.77

2.54

Shot-creating actions

2.13

1.80

Tried passes

18.13

22.62

Move completion %

76.5%

66.9%

Progressive passes

2.07

1.55

Progressive carries

1.85

1.68

Touches in attacking penalty space

5.03

3.51

Knowledge by FBref

When wanting on the desk above, it is clear Newcastle can be touchdown themselves an attacking diamond in Wissa for £50m, versus rashly playing on an costly various.

The 5-foot-9 menace is maybe extra suited to linking up with the likes of Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga in his recent house, when you think about he trumps Sesko by averaging extra shot-creating actions and correct passes per 90 minutes during the last 12 months.

Furthermore, the "exceptional" ahead - as he is been labelled previously by European soccer knowledgeable Zach Lowy - additionally averaged much more touches within the attacking penalty space during the last 12 months, that means he could possibly be simply the full of life poacher-like presence Howe is looking for in the identical mould as Isak.

Sesko would possibly nicely be seen as a shinier, newer factor coming in from overseas shores, but when it had been between the Leipzig quantity 30 and the 28-year-old, Newcastle ought to press on with sealing Wissa's signature, particularly in the event that they're already on the private phrases stage in proceedings.