Clubs are scrambling to sign players with little more than three weeks remaining before the transfer window closes. The preseason is already underway, so signing players early is the trick as giving them enough time before the season starts could help them settle in more quickly at the club.
Newcastle United are in the market for a striker but haven’t made any progress in actually signing anyone. Some of the names to have been linked with the Magpies are Nicolai Jorgensen and Salomon Rondon, but we haven’t heard anything progressive regarding any deals.
The latest player to have been linked with Newcastle is Gregoire Defrel. The Frenchman is currently at AS Roma but had a pretty subdued spell last season as he failed to get regular game time.
Defrel was signed from Sassuolo for a fee of €15m after an initial loan deal. His contract runs until 2022 but despite that, he isn’t expected to cost too much money.
Should Newcastle make the move for Gregoire Defrel?
Though he is really yet to make a mark with Roma, Defrel did have a pretty decent spell with Sassuolo under Eusebio Di Francesco which is why the manager signed him immediately after making the switch to Rome.
A strong and agile forward, Defrel is good in terms of holding the ball. His passing is pretty good as well and if they can sign him, he’d be a very useful player for linking up play up top. Newcastle have good fast and technical wingers in their squad, so Benitez might be able to get the best out of Defrel’s abilities.
The problem with him in the last year or so has been his lack of game time and inability to find the back of the net consistently. Last season, he managed just one goal for Roma and that is hardly justifiable even though most of his minutes came off the bench.
Defrel started five games and played 10 as a substitute as he failed to get into the team ahead of Edin Dzeko who was in pretty good form.
Granted, the Serie A is a much more disciplined league and scoring isn’t easy, but 28 goals in 112 games isn’t something to be proud of.
Time is running out for Newcastle in the transfer window and they need to sign a striker as Mitrovic’s future is unsettled. Defrel will be a gamble considering his goal-return though his overall game might help the attackers in the end.
