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Newcastle’s interest hots up in 25-year-old goalscorer, but face stiff competition – report

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The January transfer window may be been and gone, but that still hasn’t stopped the club being linked to new players.

The club obviously came up short in January in the striker department – an evident problem when you consider that just one Premier League goal has come from a striker this season – Joelinton’s goal against Tottenham way back in August.

Nevertheless, the hunt for a new goalscorer in the summer appears to be starting early, with Turkish outlet nethaber.com claiming that the Magpies join a number of clubs interested in signing Vedat Muriqi.

The Kosovan forward might be a name relatively unknown to English supporters, but he has reportedly gained some following from these shores in recent months, giving the club the mandate to ask for a whopping fee.

The report claims that Burnley, Manchester United, Leicester and AS Monaco are all sniffing around the striker, and a fee worth €35 (£29.5m) is “expected” to be enough to land the striker.

Would you like to see Muriqi at the club?

Yes please

Yes please

No thanks

No thanks

Not sure

Not sure

25-years-old, Muriqi is gaining quite the reputation for himself in Turkey, and with a legitimate reason. His prolific form while at Rizespor – 25 goals in 52 games – allowed him a move to Fenerbahce, where he has continued to prove that he can score goals.

So far this season, he has managed to bag 13 times in 22 games for the club, which is why so many teams are wanting to go in for him.

However, with £29.5m being the touted fee for the player, has he really done enough to justify such a price tag?

For context, the current top scorers in the entire Super Lig are Alexander Sorloth with 16 goals and Papiss Cisse with the same amount.

Now, Sorloth clearly couldn’t cut the grade at Palace, and whether they ended up missing a gem will only be known in the future. But, he still looked much off the standard at the Eagles and they couldn’t find a way to fit him in despite the terrible form of Jordan Ayew and Christian Benteke last season.

Papiss Cisse fans know all too well. He is held in high regard in the North East, but even some of his biggest fans would suggest that bringing him back would be a step too far – and he was four more goals than Muriqi this season.

There’s no doubt that Muriqi has a lot of talent, but the club should be careful before throwing around £30-odd-million again at a player who hasn’t proven or even suggested that he could do it in the Premier League.

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