According to Foot Mercato, Newcastle are interested in signing Abderrazzak Hamdallah this summer.

What's the word?

The Magpies have badly struggled with finding the back of the net in the Premier League this season, with their measly total of just 25 goals in 29 games ranking them as joint-worst with newly-promoted Norwich.

As such, it's no surprise to hear the Tyneside club are being linked with a move for a new striker, and as per French publication Foot Mercato, Steve Bruce's side have earmarked Hamdallah as a potential option.

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The report claims that along with Newcastle, Premier League rivals Aston Villa are also in the running to bring him to English football, but that the club's future Saudi owners want to sign the Saudi Professional League's top scorer of 2019.

Upgrade on Joelinton

When Joelinton signed for Newcastle in a club-record £40m fee last summer, there was surely a great sense of hope and expectation that the Brazilian could provide the firepower the Magpies desperately needed.

Instead, there can be no question that the 23-year-old has been one of the biggest flops of the Premier League season, managing just one goal in 29 matches in the top-flight.

With Hamdallah, the Moroccan has proven himself to be an elite goal-scorer - although of course with the caveat of not doing it in one of the major European leagues. But even still, his truly incredible haul of 57 goals in the entirety of 2019 ensured he finished the calendar year as the world's top-scorer, ahead of the likes of Robert Lewandowski (54) and Lionel Messi (50).

His Morocco teammate, Nordin Amrabat, waxed lyrical about what the striker brings to the table. He said: "Hamdallah’s strength resides in his technical qualities, his physical power, and his positional sense. This allows him to convert into goals some of the most difficult situations."

With his unbelievable goal-scoring record, and Joelinton's major struggles, Hamdallah would surely represent a major upgrade on Newcastle's current striker.