A big Newcastle United transfer claim has emerged on their plans for the rest of the summer transfer window...

What's the talk?

Express journalist Ryan Taylor has claimed that the Magpies will be attempting to bring in an attacker to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch.

Dan Ashworth has already strengthened the club's backline with deals to sign Matt Targett, Nick Pope, and Sven Botman - all on permanent deals - and the reporter is now backing up to look further up the pitch.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “I do think there’s scope to recruit another wide attacker as well, but obviously as we’ve seen with Newcastle, their recruitment strategy is actually very calculated, it’s not just throwing money at big names as many expected them to do, it’s smart shopping.

“So, I don’t have any specific names, but I do think there will be an attacking signing on the agenda.”

Eddie Howe will be delighted

The Magpies' head coach will be delighted by this claim as he will surely be eager to bring in more attacking talent to the team.

PIF sanctioned a spending spree in January and Chris Wood was the only out-and-out attacker amongst the group of new arrivals.

The Burnley man has struggled for form on Tyneside and did not show enough to suggest that he will be the man to fire Newcastle into the top half of the table next season.

He scored two goals in 17 Premier League matches for the Toon and his statistics over the course of the campaign, including his time at Turf Moor, do not make for much better reading. The New Zealand international scored five goals and failed to register a single assist in 34 games, which is why Howe cannot rely on him to find the back of the net next term.

Callum Wilson (eight) was the only Newcastle player with more than five league goals in total and Allan Saint-Maximin (five) was the only one with more than three assists to his name.

These statistics suggest that the Magpies are in desperate need of players who can score and or assist goals as they did not have any regular contributors to rely upon in the 2021/22 campaign.

Therefore, Howe will be buzzing with the suggestion that Ashworth is now set to pursue a deal for an attacker and will be hoping that a top player can be brought in and not another Wood.

AND in other news, Ashworth eyeing NUFC swoop for "dangerous" £30m dynamo, just imagine him & Wilson...