Newcastle United could have another Alexander Isak on their hands with genius £66m summer swoop

The list of teams who want to sign Alexander Isak this summer is steadily growing. As the Swede keeps scoring, the rumours swirl ever more – we all know Arsenal have been interested for some time, but now Chelsea and Liverpool’s names are circulating, too. Newcastle United’s resolve to keep him at St. James’ Park may well be tested come the summer.

The Magpies have desire to sell, would reportedly demand well over £100m, and there are ongoing discussions over an extension to his current contract, which ties him to Tyneside until 2028. The odds are that a deal for Isak would prove too rich even for the wealthy bloody of the richest Premier League teams and that he stays put, but Newcastle are taking nothing for granted – and may have identified a like-for-like replacement already.

Newcastle ready for second attempt to sign striker

Newcastle fans who pay close to attention to the transfer market will already know all about Hugo Ekitike. The Frenchman nearly moved to the North East from former side Stade Reims in January 2022, eventually declining a contract offer despite the agreement of a deal worth up to £33m.

It proved to be a significant turning point for both player and club. Newcastle signed Isak, a striker with a very similar profile, the following summer and now have arguably their finest goalscorer since Alan Shearer on the books. Ekitike, meanwhile, went to Paris Saint-Germain, part of the Parisiens’ scattershot approach to replacing the old front three of Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

It didn’t work out well for Ekitike, who was scored three goals in his first season with PSG and was promptly shipped out on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt, who signed him permanently in the summer for a reported €16.5m (£13.7m), around half of what had been paid for him in the first place. Ekitike simply wasn’t ready to reach the standards demanded by PSG and seemed to wilt under the pressure of playing for France’s biggest and richest side.

Now 22, however, Ekitike has found a new lease of life in the Bundesliga, bagging 12 goals in 20 league games this season and demonstrating the combination of predatory instincts and technical prowess that made him so sought-after in the first place.

As a result, Newcastle are reportedly watching his progress closely once more. Should Isak leave, Ekitike would be a natural replacement – their physical capabilities and playing style overlap remarkably well. It would represent a gamble, given that Ekitike is only 18 months divorced from a significant personal disappointment in Paris, but his talent and form are equally undeniable.

Reports suggest that Frankfurt will sell, but only if they can turn a hefty profit. €80m (£66.3m) is the alleged asking price – a substantial investment, albeit likely around half of what the club would get for Isak if they did end up selling him.

Why Ekitike would make the ideal replacement for Isak

Ekitike is, of course, very much a Plan B, with the preference still being that Isak stays put and continues scoring goals in front of the Gallowgate End – but if financial considerations force a sale, or if Isak himself decides to push for an exit, then Ekitike makes considerable sense as a replacement.

Like Isak, he has a tall, gangling frame and long, loping strides which bely considerable speed and physical presence – and like Isak, he has excellent off-ball movement and has the knack of gliding into spaces between and behind defenders.

He also has Isak’s strident ball-carrying skill and his underappreciated talent for quick, incisive interchanges around the penalty area and creates a similar number of quality chances for his team-mates with accurate short passing. The Venn diagram between their skillsets is almost a circle.

Almost, but not quite – Isak is, as it stands, a better finisher, and has a predatory edge that accounts for some of the difference in value between the two. Isak has scored at well over 0.8 goals per game for the last two seasons – Ekitike’s strike rate over the same period is closer to 0.6.

That’s still extremely healthy, by any sensible standards, but it’s also worth noting that the Frenchman has enjoyed a considerably higher volume of expected goals per game than Isak and doesn’t score as often as he perhaps should. He lacks Isak’s coolness when through on goal, and that’s the weakness that he needs to turn into a strength to become a truly first-rate forward.

Then again, Isak wasn’t the complete package when he first moved to Newcastle and needed to improve his movement and reading of the game to find ways to get away from defenders more frequently than he did when he arrived. There is no reason that Ekitike should fail to take steps forward at the same rate.

Newcastle’s priority will be to keep their best striker and arguably best player, but if an offer comes in that’s simply too good to turn down then Ekitike is as good a back-up plan as you could ask for. It’s rare that Premier League teams have such a clear like-for-like replacement for a key player under their nose and available – and perhaps this time, he wouldn’t turn the Magpies down.