Questions have surrounded Newcastle United’s attack throughout the better part of last season and the whole summer, but the club’s current thinking suggests Eddie Howe is prepared to begin the new season with his existing group of strikers.
The Athletic’s Chris Waugh reported on July 14 that Newcastle are not actively looking to sign another out-and-out center-forward at this stage of the transfer window, despite an inconsistent campaign from the club’s strikers last season.
According to Waugh, Howe
is planning on working with Will Osula, Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa as his three first-team No. 9s. While further movement later in the window cannot be ruled out, let alone after what happened at the 11th hour last year, the current expectation inside the club is that those three will make up Newcastle’s striker unit for the 2026-27 campaign.
Surprisingly, Waugh reports that usual backup Osula is viewed as the leading option for the No. 9 role after finishing last season strongly. The Denmark international earned his chance during the closing weeks of the campaign and took it, putting himself in line to start the new season as Newcastle’s first-choice striker.
The Athletic also reports Newcastle explored whether there was a market for Wissa earlier this summer. However, the financial cost of moving the DR Congo international was considered too big a loss given what they paid for him, and the club simply hopes his World Cup performances and a full pre-season will help him produce a much stronger second campaign on Tyneside.
Woltemade’s situation, meanwhile, appears less certain. After a difficult World Cup, Waugh believes that it remains unclear exactly how the Germany international fits into Howe’s preferred style of play, one that, of course, will never change under the current Tyneside gaffer. Although the 23-year-old could feature as a No. 10 if Newcastle uses a 4-2-3-1 system, Waugh is not convinced that formation will remain Howe’s long-term choice, with the manager still and obviously expected to return to his usual and set-in-stone 4-3-3 with no room for Woltemade.
Even so, Newcastle are also unlikely to recover the fee they paid for Woltemade this summer, making a departure improbable, as with Wissa.
