Newcastle are a perhaps a couple of wins away from securing their top-flight status and that’ll be a pretty good achievement by Rafa Benitez. While quite a few pundits have said that the fans should stop complaining about the team and that the manager should work with what he’s got, Benitez’s side has a very Championship look to it.
The British core worked there but there were doubts about the same transpiring in the top flight. The club have managed to end bad runs at the right time and hence are in a good position right now.
The summer is going to be important for Newcastle. The Magpies had certain targets in mind a few months ago but had a low-key January transfer window. The loan signings of Kenedy and Dubravka have worked well and for Benitez to stay, they’ll have to back him with money.
One of the transfer targets of Newcastle a few months ago was Nicolai Jorgensen. The Feyenoord striker has netted eight goals in the Eredivisie and could be a target once again come summer.
Jorgensen – What has changed?
The club were linked with him in January and quite a few saw him a good addition. Hell, even we believed he would have been a wise addition. As the season has progressed though, the Dane has struggled in front of goal.
He was one an eight-game goal-drought before his goal against AZ Alkmaar a few weeks ago. Feyenoord have good wingers and a creative midfielder in their team – Steven Berghuis and Jens Toornstra. That’s something he won’t have at Tyneside, so his ability will be tested.
A big gamble?
The club doesn’t have a good history of signing players from the Dutch league. Siem De Jong and Luuk De Jong turned out to be massive flops and the story has been similar at other clubs. Forward Vincent Janssen scored a ton of goals at Twente but struggled at Tottenham.
The step up from the Eredivisie to the Premier League is big, especially if you’re not a defender as fans expect things from you almost immediately because the transfer fee tends to be that high. In Jorgensen’s case, the fee could be somewhere around £18 million.
Unlike some of the sides with better resources, the Magpies will have to sign lesser-known players. If they do decide to pay the money for Jorgensen, they’ll have to add more creative players around him to help him settle.
