Newcastle United supporters have been drowning their sorrows in the Transfer Tavern this week after seeing their side suffer a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Premier League champions Chelsea on Saturday, thus falling to a fifth league loss in their last six games.
Rafa Benitez’s men made a fine start to life back in the top tier by winning four of their opening nine games, yet things have since taken a turn for the worse with just one point coming from a possible 18. And the former Chelsea boss was unable to secure victory upon his return to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, as a brace from Eden Hazard and an Alvaro Morata header saw the Blues fight back from conceding an early Dwight Gayle goal in West London, in turn sealing a tenth win of the campaign for Antonio Conte’s side, at the same time instigating Newcastle’s fall to 15th in the table.
Subsequently, there have been many despondent Magpies fans in the Tavern this week, and their mood is unlikely to improve if a recent report from Turkish.Football (via The Newcastle Chronicle) is anything to go by, which outlines some potentially damaging information regarding their pursuit of Besiktas’ Cenk Tosun.
The 26-year-old has been one of the most in-form strikers in European football in the last 12 months or so, having netted an astounding 11 goals in just 19 games for the club so far this term, building upon his 20 in 33 league matches last time out to help the Turkish giants to the Super Lig title.
And his incredible goal-scoring form has unsurprisingly attracted the attention of many sides around the continent, including Crystal Palace, Tottenham, and indeed Newcastle, and that has forced Besiktas into placing an extortionate price-tag on Tosun’s shoulders, as per the club’s vice-president Deniz Atalay.
He said: ‘If you ask me Cenk is worth €100 million, he has a very bright future.
‘He are starting to reap the fruits from the seeds we sowed.’
And these comments are likely to strike a significant blow in Benitez’s January quest for attacking reinforcements, with that figure almost certainly pricing the Magpies out of the race for the striking sensation.
Landlord’s verdict: With just 14 goals from their 15 Premier League games, there’s no prizes for guessing what area of Newcastle United’s squad needs improving in January.
And that is why links with Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun aren’t overly surprising either, given that the 26-year-old has scored 11 goals in just 19 games so far this season, which adds to the 20 he bagged last time round in his side’s run to a second successive Super Lig title.
However, Besiktas’ vice-president Deniz Atalay may well have priced several sides out of the race for the Turkey international, having recently said that he is worth €100 million, a figure which if met would make him the second most expensive player in the world behind Neymar.
And although there is a fair bit of money in the Premier League nowadays, that’s a figure which Newcastle almost certainly cannot match, and as such manager Rafa Benitez may need to consider other striking targets ahead of the January window.
Newcastle fans… what do you make of the news? Let us know!
