Ex-Newcastle United stalwart Steve Howey has revealed that the Magpies contemplated making a move for Southampton striker Danny Ings during Steve McClaren’s ill-fated spell in charge.

The Magpies have had real issues in front of goal over the last few years. Dwight Gayle’s 23 goals in the Championship promotion season (Sofascore) was a rare campaign of form from one of their centre forwards. Since then, the likes of Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez have had brief spells of form in front of goal before departing for pastures new.

Howey reveals Newcastle’s hesitancy over potential deal for prolific forward

Newcastle have finally seemed to find a natural scorer this summer by bringing in Callum Wilson from Bournemouth for around £20m. The Englishman has already averaged two shots per game in the Premier League and scored at an average of 0.8 goals per game (Sofascore).

However, Ings is proving even more prolific than Wilson, with the Southampton forward having also got off to a flying start to the campaign off the back of hitting 22 league goals last term (Sofascore). The England international was struggling for game time at Liverpool when the Magpies were interested in moving for him. However, it was the Saints who gambled on him and are being rewarded.

Speaking to FootballFanCast, Howey revealed that Newcastle were considering signing Ings for around £12m. However, they opted out of making a move when they were told a fee of £15m was required to get him out of Liverpool, while he also suggested the Magpies made a mistake by not going ahead with the move.

He said: “I don’t think it was this summer in fairness, but I know for a while, a long while, I was singling out Danny Ings. I thought Newcastle could have benefitted from somebody like him. I think Steve McClaren was the manager, and having a quick conversation with Steve, I think the fee was something like £12m and they were quite happy to pay that. Then it went up to £15m, and it was a case of we’re not paying that fee for him.

“For me it would have been him. Having said that, I was really pleased with Callum Wilson. I’ve always liked Callum Wilson, and I like Josh King. But as I said, I think Danny Ings would have been the one.”

Ings could have helped upgrade Magpies' forward line

Ings has been exceptional since making a permanent move to Southampton in the summer of 2019, with the forward averaging 1.7 shots and 0.6 goals per game last term (Sofascore). However, it is not just his ability in front of goal that is impressive. The Englishman also averaged 0.9 key passes per match (Sofascore) to show his potential to link the play.

The 28-year-old has proven he can stay injury-free, after suffering a few bad injuries earlier in his career, and has been labelled as ‘unbelievable’ by Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl. That shows the quality he can offer and Newcastle may well regret not moving for a player who has transformed a rival team’s attack.

In other news, find out which ex-Newcastle player has urged the club to find a resolution to the takeover situation here and don’t forget to leave a comment below with your views!