A year ago, it was clear who was lining up in the middle of Newcastle’s attack. The man who forced his way to Liverpool in a British transfer record move was the clear first-choice option. He scored 27 goals in all competitions for the Toon. With his departure, and Newcastle seemingly missing out on every summer signing they pursued, they finally signed Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa for a combined $150.9 million.
At first, it seemed like the Magpies would move on without missing a beat. The Swedish
international was struggling for form and fitness at Anfield. Woltemade was banging in goals, showcasing his immense technical ability for a player of his stature. The German international had six goals across all competitions by the end of November. Wissa took a bit longer to feature as he recovered from an injury, finally debuting in December. He scored in his first start for the club, netting an early goal against Fulham in the League Cup.
A year to forget thus far
Since the start of the new year, it has all gone wrong. Neither Woltemade nor Wissa has scored in Premier League action in 2026. In fact, the only goal either of them has scored in any competition was Woltemade’s late goal to seal the win against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
At this point, there is no clear starting No. 9 in the squad. Eddie Howe appears to have lost faith in starting either summer signing centrally up front. Wissa has only made four league starts this season.
Howe seems desperate for Woltemade to find some form, dropping the 6’6” striker into the midfield, playing as a No. 10 in a number of instances. Performances against Qarabag aside, Woltemade has been largely ineffective. He rarely makes runs into the box from that spot, which is needed when players like Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga are starting up front. His size alone makes him a target, but Woltemade seems content to play linking passes to attacking players from deep and make the occasional impressive turn with the ball at his feet.
Even when we have seen Woltemade play up front of late, he is essentially a non-factor. Against Everton on Saturday, Howe started Woltemade in midfield, Joelinton out wide and Gordon up front. Around the half-hour mark, they shifted into their more traditional roles. Woltemade had three touches the rest of his time on the pitch; he was subbed off in the 56th minute. FotMob credited him with zero touches in the opposition box for the whole match. That simply cannot happen.
Not that Wissa has been any better. He came on in the 75th minute against Everton. In the roughly 20ish minutes he played, he had five total touches and one wayward shot that did not come close to testing the keeper.
Is there anyone else to fill the void?
While Gordon has done his best to run the channels, he naturally fits better on the wing. Plus, he has only had one Premier League goal since December 6th. The only other player we have seen consistently play in that center-forward role is William Osula, but the 22-year-old seems like he still needs a bit more development before he is ready to consistently play in the Premier League. He scored one Premier League goal back in August against Liverpool and has not featured much in the league, playing just 262 minutes.
With leading goalscorer Bruno Guimarães expected to miss roughly another six weeks of action, Newcastle desperately needs one of their expensive summer signings to step up. The club spent roughly $223.3 million on Woltemade, Wissa and Elanga, who, simply stated, have not been good enough this season. Elanga and Jacob Murphy are the only attacking players to score for the club in the past month of domestic competitions. The rest have come from the midfield or defense.
There are plenty of other issues at the club right now, ranging from the rash of injuries to the declining play of Nick Pope in goal, but if Newcastle has any hopes of getting back into the European spots or extending their run in the FA Cup or Champions League, they are going to need their attacking players to start scoring goals. Or at least providing some sort of goal-scoring threat. Some of that is on Howe to set up his team in a manner that can produce more chances for those attacking players, but the players themselves need to start performing.
