Report: Player with 9 assists so far this season seen as potential Gayle replacement

Newcastle United are reportedly interested in Glasgow Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, though they don’t have much hope in landing him.

According to reports in the Northern Echo, Alfredo Morelos – as well as Hull City’s Jarrod Bowen – are both considered as targets by the Newcastle board.

Exciting to hear, on the face of things.

Unfortunately, though, the report suggests that the ‘Gers have absolutely no intention of selling due to their chase of the SPL title, which could ultimately be the biggest factor in the deal not getting done, especially with them now having the advantage after they beat their biggest rivals 2-1 at Celtic Park.

The main focus of the story is that Newcastle will have to sell before they can buy in the upcoming window as they simply have too many players in their squad. At the moment, Jack Colback is without a squad number as they have filled out their 25-man squad – so if someone wants in, someone will have to leave.

One player that seriously looks as if the end is near is Dwight Gayle. Despite appearing in the last four games and making his first start of the season against Manchester United, he simply won’t have appeared anywhere near as much as he would have liked.

Additionally, his contract expires at the end of next season and plenty of Championship clubs are likely to be willing to spend around £15m on a player who has such a proven record at that level (59 goals in 100 games in the Championship).

As for Alfredo Morelos, there’s no doubt that he would be a great signing, though the club are correct in thinking they have little chance of getting him. So far this season, he has scored 28 times and assisted nine from 35 games, and overall for the club, he has a whopping 76 goals from 126 – a hugely impressive record for a 23-year-old (Transfermarkt).

Firstly, with Gerrard’s side doing so well this season he is likely to want to have one last crack at winning the league title, as well as see how far they can go in the Europa League. Secondly, there are likely to be a number of decent clubs chasing the forward – Crystal Palace and Aston Villa have been linked – so it would not be easy to get him to move on Tyneside.