Change of opinion on Newcastle United signing this striker | OneFootball

Right lads and lasses, fellow Newcastle United fans, I have to admit I’m torn.

An article (Newcastle United fans – A question of trust) appeared on The Mag on Sunday, questioning how Newcastle United fans collectively think.

It got me wondering.

We all have opinions and we make them to one another, either online or in my preferred outlet, in person on a matchday – usually in a boozer over a few jars. Thoughts are exchanged, agreed or disagreed with and we go on our merry way.

However, what if we change our opinion(s)?

Do the people we interact with always assume our opinions stay static. “Oh here comes such and such. He doesn’t like our goalkeeper you know!”

But what if through time “such and such” starts to rate said goalkeeper? Does the person now have to go into public conversation with a sandwich board that reads “I now like our goalkeeper”?

I could put it down to the boredom of the current international window but one such opinion change happened to me this week. Not a seismic shift in stance, but one that could see a bit of logic, where before I couldn’t. It involved our most recent game against Everton.

We were, as usual, without the perennially injured Callum Wilson.

We were also without broken toe victim Alexander Isak.

New signing William Osula was benched and former Everton player Anthony Gordon was preferred up front.

That’s right, a striker didn’t start, instead a player who isn’t a striker was preferred up front.

In fact, no striker appeared for the whole game, with Osula remaining on the bench. That’s a worry. Is it any wonder we failed to score.

Now let me be clear, I love Anthony Gordon. BUT… I didn’t always. I raised a few eyebrows when we paid £40m plus £5m in future add-ons. I bet a few of you did. Go on, admit it. However, you changed your mind, I’m sure, looking at how good he is. If he is sold (heaven forbid), he won’t be going for £40m (plus £5m add-ons). Double that at least.

William Osula might have a decent future at the club but I can’t see him being a main goal threat in the immediate future. Looking at our options, if we had a game tomorrow, you’d still not see Osula starting up front. It would be Anthony Gordon. This can’t go on indefinitely.

Persisting in waiting for Callum Wilson to be fit for any decent period of time is futile and can’t continue any longer than is necessary. And I don’t mean the summer transfer window of 2025. We should be starting to rectify this situation as soon as possible, by which I mean January. I’m sure the club are looking at this as a priority.

Which brings me on to another change of opinion on a player reportedly a target of ours during the last transfer window, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The claims at the time were that a bid of £40m was knocked back by Everton. Now, with his contract set to expire next summer, I would imagine any bid north of £15m would have to be seriously considered in January, or lose him for nothing next summer.

I never thought him prolific but he doesn’t have to be. His goalscoring record isn’t too shabby to be honest and I’m relatively confident that if his fitness is ok, a bid of around £15m-20m could prove to be a bargain.

Going forward we need reliability. It’s all well and good saying Callum Wilson can get us 10 goals a season but as things stand, Calvert-Lewin has seven appearances so far this season scoring two goals in a rotten Everton side. While on the other hand, I wouldn’t be confident of Wilson making seven appearances before Santa arrives.

Some (like me over the summer) will rubbish the idea of this transfer, others may think it’s a decent idea. Well in the weeks and months since it was first mooted, coupled with the increased unreliability of Wilson, I’ve changed my mind.

Swapping an injury prone striker who will be 33 in February for one who turns 28 in March, could prove good business. Maybe Anthony Gordon can have a word with his former teammate.

We need a push going into the end of the season. We can’t risk a good start to the season turning into a petered out campaign, something which would be highly likely if we have to rely on Wilson as our back up striker for much longer.

It’s a long hard winter and crossing everything we have to cross and wrapping Isak up in cotton wool can’t be the only plan. Neither should the plan be putting pressure on Gordon being a striker to get us goals week in week out. That’s something I doubt I’ll ever be changing my mind on.

And it is with Gordon I’ll leave it. I didn’t think that he was all that when we first signed him but what a player he has become and boy has he changed my opinion. I place the credit in no small part with Eddie Howe in getting the best out of him. Maybe that’s why Howe was reportedly a driving force in pursuing Calvert-Lewin.