Newcastle United should consider hijacking Crystal Palace’s reported interest in Brentford attacker Ollie Watkins.
It is no secret that Newcastle had a lack of attacking firepower last season and it’s an area that manager Rafael Benitez has to fix before the new Premier League campaign starts.
The Magpies have added goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and midfielder Ki Sung-yueng on a permanent basis, while they have re-signed winger Kenedy on loan from Chelsea too.
However, the North East club are crying out for more attacking options and that is why they should consider hijacking interest in Championship ace Ollie Watkins.
Premier League club Crystal Palace are interested in signing Brentford’s Watkins this summer and could even use their player Sullay Kaikai as part of a deal to get him, according to the Mirror in their live transfer blog (2:53am, 16 July).
Newcastle need to blow Palace out of the water for the 22-year-old and offer him an opportunity for top-flight football at St James’ Park, with his reported £8million valuation making him an attractive option.
Watkins is a versatile attacker that has shown so far during his career he is effective on either wing or in a more central position, something that would help him break into the Newcastle first team and bolster the options in the squad.
He was directly involved in 16 goals last season for Brentford across all competitions and looks capable of stepping up to the Premier League.
Bentiez may need to dip into the Championship if he doesn’t have colossal amounts of money to spend, but there are still a few diamonds in England’s second-tier and Watkins may well be one of them.
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