If Newcastle United’s draw away at Rochdale taught us one thing, it was that Steve Bruce’s side struggle to put the ball in the back of the net.
Indeed, the Toon boss lamented their inability to finish off the Dale at Spotland on Saturday afternoon and club-record signing Joelinton certainly invoked the ire of a number of fans for his performance on his FA Cup debut. Having missed a number of good chances to add to the one goal he bagged for the Magpies back in August, the 23-year-old was then robbed of possession as the League One outfit launched the counter-attack that eventually led to Aaron Wilbraham’s dramatic equaliser.
Couple that with the fact both Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin have notched three goals between them in all competitions, things are looking bleak on the striking front for Newcastle.
Obviously, the start of the January transfer window does offer the club the chance to strengthen and, having broken their transfer record at the time for the aforementioned Almiron last year, the rumours are in full flow at the start of 2020.
One of those has come from the Sun. They claim Bruce is hoping the arrival of one Zlatan Ibrahimovic at AC Milan can help him capture the services of Krzysztof Piątek on loan. The Polish international only moved to San Siro 12 months ago but has since struggled to replicate the kind of early form he showed in the famous red and black stripes, as well as the exploits during his short time at Genoa to earn him such a move in the first place.
He’s scored four times in 17 games (per Transfermarkt) for the struggling Rossoneri this term, which is a fairly disappointing tally considering his 22 goal haul in 30 Serie A games last year.
Still, Transfermarkt note in their positional data on the player that he’s a pure striker. In fact, 148 of his 159 career appearances have come in that berth, somewhat different to the options currently available to Bruce. Joelinton, for example, who appeared 7 times in 36 games at Hoffenheim as a wide forward or second-striker.
The report also suggests the club would sanction the exit of Dwight Gayle should they be able to push a deal over the line, prompting quite the reaction amongst Magpies online, who don’t seem to believe it. With that in mind, here’s a look at what some of them had to say.
Piatek to #nufc is a crazed summer *big ambition* rumour. It definitely isn’t taken from the January bargain bucket.
— Harry De Cosemo (@harrydecosemo) January 5, 2020
Piatek…yeah in our dreams
— James Nye (@jamesnye9) January 5, 2020
Literally can’t wait to sell Gayle then the misery when we don’t have him next season. Classic Newcastle
— Dominic (@dlissaman) January 5, 2020
Dreamland
— Kevin McKenna (@caoimhin85) January 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/DanWillan1984/status/1213876768966414336
Why would he come to us? I think he’d rather sit on the bench at Milan
— jonny greener (@Jonny_G87) January 5, 2020
What are the chances of this deal happening, do you think? Join the discussion by commenting below…
