Newcastle Utd News

Joelinton and Gayle situations makes missing out on Bowen dumbfounding – opinion

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If the reports are true about the club missing out on Jarrod Bowen for financial reasons, then the deal for Joelinton and Dwight Gayle’s lack of activity needs assessing.

Newcastle United and Bowen have been linked together for some time now, but it seems those links might well be coming to an end with the club giving up hope on a potential transfer.

According to reports from the Northern Echo, Hull City’s valuation is simply too high for the club and rumoured interest from Champions League finalists Tottenham Hostpur has put the club off.

With Bowen’s deal due to expire at the end of the season – though the club does have the option of extending it by a year – the club are likely to cash in as soon as possible to ensure that they can get as big of a fee as they can get.

Allegedly, £20m is the very least a club will pay for his services, and with Leicester and Spurs also rumoured to be interested, the Magpies will not entertain the idea of a bidding war.

With goals so clearly a huge problem at St James’ Park, how are the club not able to raise £20m of funds for a proven goalscorer when they’ve spent £40m on a striker with a much worse goal record, and they have another striker worth around £15m (the Telegraph) lying dormant on the bench in Dwight Gayle?

So far this season, just two of Newcastle’s 17 goals have come from forwards or wingers – Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin – a return simply not good enough nearly halfway through the campaign. The number of goals Jarrod Bowen has: 16. He is just one behind their whole squad and he has been playing on the right flank.

With over half of their Premier League goals this season coming from defenders (nine), it is isn’t particularly sustainable to be so reliant on your back 5 scoring goals. Bowen brings a level of finishing which isn’t really there in the squad at the moment – apart from perhaps Dwight Gayle, who doesn’t really suit Steve Bruce’s 5-4-1.

Is Bowen worth splashing £20m on?

Of course, we need goals

Spend the money elsewhere

While Joelinton can lead the line and is therefore an important part of how they play, you have to question why they are so willing to spend twice the money on him and not put up a fight to sign someone such as Jarrod Bowen.

Presumably, if the club just coughed up the asking price then it is really unlikely that they are going to make a loss. £20m seems a good fee for a player who has scored 55 goals in 130 games in his career playing mostly on the wing; a price which is only going to get ramped up in the bright lights of the Premier League – even if he can’t replicate that kind of record.

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