Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur are just three clubs watching Cenk Tosun – but the Besiktas striker could be heading to St James’ Park.
The race to sign Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun is hotting up.
This came just a few days after Fikret Orman, the Istanbul giant’s president, conformed to Haber-Turk that Besiktas ‘will sell’ if they receive a respectable offer in January for a striker valued at around £17 million.
Reports in Fotomac that Newcastle United have emerged as frontrunners for Tosun’s signature, then, should elicit plenty of excitement on Tyneside.
The Magpies are understood to have watched the 26-year-old score twice during Turkey’s recent World Cup qualifying clash with Finland. And the report claims that, despite supposed interest from Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle or Crystal Palace are now looking like Tosun’s most likely destination.
The Magpies could certainly benefit from a more reliable goalscorer. Tosun scored 41 times in the last two seasons for Besiktas and would surely represent an immediate improvement on Joselu, Dwight Gayle or Aleksander Mitrovic.
And it goes without saying that Palace, too, could do with attacking reinforcements. Prior to their stunning 2-1 win against Premier League champions Chelsea on Saturday, The Eagles hadn’t scored in each of their seven domestic fixtures in 2017/18.
If Newcastle do land Tosun, however, the fee appears likely to exceed the club-record £17 million they paid Real Madrid for Michael Owen back in 2005.
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