Newcastle United are yet to strengthen Eddie Howe's set of attacking options in the summer transfer window ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Dan Ashworth has brought in Nick Pope, Sven Botman, and Matt Targett on permanent deals to bolster the backline but has not dipped into the market to sign a forward.

The club's pursuit of French striker Hugo Ekitike came to an end earlier this month as PSG officially signed him from Stade Reims.

Newcastle were keen on the attacker but he opted to make the move to the Ligue 1 winners to play alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe.

Howe was recently quoted as saying: “We really like Hugo but it wasn’t to be. He has decided to go to PSG, and there are no hard feelings towards the lad. We wish him well. We thought he was a real talent & could have done a really good job. They are the teams we are competing against."

The Magpies must now identify an alternative to the 20-year-old and they can land a dream deal in a swoop for Sassuolo attacker Gianluca Scamacca, who is said to be available for £30m.

Newcastle have been linked with the Italian this summer and they must now act on their interest to snap him up now that they will not be signing Ekitike.

Ex-Italy U21 coach Luigi Di Biagio previously dubbed him as "complete" and talent scout Jacek Kulig hailed his form in Italy, nicknaming him the "bomber".

The gem scored an eye-catching 16 goals in 25 Serie A starts for Sassuolo, whilst also creating three 'big chances' for his teammates. He managed that tally from 10.8 expected goals and this shows that he was clinical in front of goal, scoring roughly five more than he was expected to from the chances he had.

Ekitike, meanwhile, scored ten times in 15 Ligue 1 starts. The youngster amassed 6.4 xG to reach that tally, which means that the Italian outperformed his xG by a higher amount. Although, both players ranked in the 93rd percentile in Europe's top five leagues for non-penalty goals per 90.

At the age of 23, Scamacca - like 20-year-old Ekitike - has plenty of time left ahead of him to develop and improve as a striker. Both players are promising, young, centre-forwards who have shown that they can score goals at an impressive rate in a major European league.

Therefore, Newcastle signing the Sassuolo number nine would be a dream deal after they missed out on the Frenchman and that is why they must bring him in before the end of the window.

AND in other news, "Electrifying" £60m wizard is "open" to Newcastle transfer, just imagine him & Wilson...