Newcastle United are settling into life after Alexander Isak, with Eddie Howe challenged with putting a new front three together.
The saga surrounding the wantaway striker seemed never-ending during the recent transfer window, before Liverpool eventually secured his services on deadline day for a record-breaking fee.
As disappointing as that will have been for Newcastle, they must move on, and did manage to sign a couple of potential replacements in Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
Anthony Elanga also arrived from Nottingham Forest earlier in the window, meaning we could see an entirely new forward line following the international break.
But should the new signings all line up together, what would they bring to Newcastle’s front three?
In this article, we’ll cover:
Wissa: Newcastle’s latest number nine
In similar fashion to Isak, it remained to be seen whether or not Wissa would complete a move away from Brentford.
Newcastle just about got the deal done and handed the Bees’ record Premier League scorer the cherished number nine, which has become synonymous with the club.
Hughie Gallagher, Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer have all donned the iconic jersey with distinction over the years.
While Wissa does not necessarily fit that profile given he is not an out-and-out striker, he does share one common trait: he knows where the back of the net is.
He has also become more prolific throughout his four Premier League seasons; scoring seven in each of his first two, before hitting 12 in 2023-24, and then 19 last term.
Though one fewer than Bryan Mbeumo’s tally, Wissa bettered his former team-mate for goals per 90 minute (0.58), and registered the most shots on target among Brentford players with 43.
In fact, Isak and Erling Haaland were the only strikers to better that in the Premier League last season, while his total of 17 big chances scored (0.52 per 90) was just one fewer than the Swede.
His shot conversion rate of 21.11% was not too far off Isak’s (23.23%), though he only created 28 chances for his team-mates throughout the campaign, and he will have to demonstrate greater levels of creativity if he is to make his mark in the Champions League.
The solution from Stuttgart
Before Wissa – and before Isak was sold – Newcastle boosted their central attacking options with the purchase of one of Europe’s brightest young stars.
Woltemade shone for Germany during last summer’s European Under-21 Championship, at which he top-scored with six goals in just five appearances.
That came after he scored 17 goals from 34 shots on target for Stuttgart in all competitions, with 12 of those strikes coming in Bundesliga.
In fact, he bettered Isak’s shot conversion rate (24.49%), while Patrik Schick and Jonathan Burkadt were the only strikers with at least 20 attempts on target to improve on that.
Woltemade’s 1.5 shots on target and 0.75 goals per 90 minute were the best tallies among Stuttgart players.
He also created 2.06 chances per 90 minutes, with his overall total of 37 in the Bundesliga only bettered by Hugo Ekitike, Andrej Kramaric and Marvin Ducksch among strikers.
Interestingly, his figures of 0.67 goals per 90 minutes and 0.56 big chances scored per 90 were also not far off those of Isak (0.75 and 0.59 respectively), despite playing six games fewer.
Swapping one tall striker for another, can 6’6” Woltemade maintain or even better those levels on Tyneside?
Anthony 2.0
Before the Isak saga had even come to light, Newcastle had already made a positive move in the window by bringing in Elanga from Nottingham Forest.
The winger played a key role as Forest finished seventh and secured Europa League football under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Unlike Wissa and Woltemade, though, there will be more focus on the former Man Utd winger’s creativity than goalscoring exploits.
So how does he compare with Newcastle’s current wide men?
Elanga provided 11 assists in the Premier League, though Jacob Murphy (12) was one of the only two players to better that tally – the other being a certain Mohamed Salah.
He did better Murphy in terms of chances created per 90 minutes and take-on ending carries per 90 (both 1.79). However, he was just short of Anthony Gordon in the former statistic (1.88), with the England winger also registering 2.39 take-on ending carries per 90 minutes.
Those are the levels Elanga will need to produce if he is to be a regular feature in Howe’s starting XI.