Three players Newcastle United must sign in the January transfer window
Newcastle United are yet to register their first win of the current Premier League season. A 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on opening day was followed by a 0-0 draw away at Cardiff City. Subsequently, the Magpies once again crumbled to a 2-1 home defeat against Chelsea.
Rafael Benitez’s men have shown good character and endurance in all the games and could have come up with better results. However, the fact that they faced Chelsea and Spurs early in the season should be taken into consideration.
Benitez has preferred defensive tactics in most of the games with either a 5-4-1 or a 4-4-1-1 formation which has limited Newcastle’s goalscoring opportunities to some extent. While they have not been poor, they need more additions to their squad to challenge for a top-ten finish.
And they can do that by bringing in some reinforcements in January to spice things up. Here are three players they must target to bolster their squad.
1. Wilfried Bony
The 29-year-old Ivorian striker currently plays for Championship club Swansea City. With a powerful 6ft frame, the Ivorian has the capacity to muscle his way past defenders, often posing a threat inside the penalty area. He has good pace, agility and can shoot accurately from distances.
Bony has previously played for Manchester City in the Premier League but he did not get much game time under Pep Guardiola. He is currently one of the best strikers in the Championship and Newcastle should not waste any time in making a bid for this prolific target man.
He will be a handy addition to the squad alongside the likes Joselu and Ayoze Perez.
2. Kieran Gibbs
Once an Arsenal player, the 28-year-old left-back has almost faded into obscurity and currently plies his trade for West Bromwich Albion in the Championship. He was a part of Arsenal’s squad from 2010 to 2017, making 137 appearances for the Gunners across all competitions.
The Englishman was sold to West Brom last season and has been a regular starter for the club. A fast and agile full-back, Gibbs has the ability to provide that extra edge to the attack from the left-flank with subtle and incisive runs in the opposition’s half. Besides being defensively solid, he can set up fast counter-attacks from the wings.
Newcastle have Paul Dummett who is a good left-back but they should add Gibbs to their squad since he can provide more offensively.
3. Oumar Niasse
The Senegalese winger-cum-forward joined Everton from Lokomotiv Moscow back in 2016 but failed to make his mark under Ronald Koeman. As a result, he was loaned out to Hull City. However, he impressed during his loan spell and subsequently strung together some match-winning performances for Everton.
The 26-year-old attacker is not one of the top players at the club currently and has slipped further down the pecking order with the arrival of Richarlison. He has his limitations in aerial duels but apart from that, he is a quick, pacy and agile winger who can also play as a forward. Niasse is unafraid to take on opposition defenders and has the tendency to embark on solo runs into the attacking third.
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He could be a useful addition to the squad alongside the likes of Kennedy and Matt Ritchie.
