Chris Wood turned in his best Newcastle United performance on April 8th against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He won the decisive penalty, scored the decisive penalty (his first goal at St James’ Park), and generally made himself an almighty nuisance to the visiting backline with his movement, desire and mere presence in the final third.
Wood’s display in the very next Premier League outing, however, was a regression to the mean. Back to the usual. If his Wolves performance was Chris Wood’s Silver Side Up, then Sunday against Leicester was, well, take your pick from the rest of Nickelback’s torturous back catalogue.
“After netting the winner against Wolves, he spent most of the Leicester game as a spectator,” reads Newcastle fan site Geordie Boot Boys, giving the £25 million January signing from Burnley a 5/10 for his afternoon’s work.
“Chris Wood barely got a kick, and was rightly substituted with 20 minutes to go.”
Of course, Wood cannot shoulder all the blame on his own. He is a striker who relies on service. And, in a forgettable 2-1 win over a Leicester side who had played 90 energy sapping minutes against PSV Eindhoven just three minutes later, service was certainly in short supply.
Yet, reports from 90Min suggesting that Ivan Toney is back on Newcastle’s radar after a superb top-flight campaign with Brentford suggest that Wood cannot afford more anonymous displays like this with the transfer window looming.
Does Chris Wood have a future at Newcastle United?
Toney, you may remember, spent a couple of ill-faed seasons at St James’ Park years ago, making just two league appearances.
He was, at the time, an unproven youngster snapped up on a whim from fourth-tier Northampton Town. Should Toney decide he has unfinished business in the North East, he will return a far more rounded, mature footballer, one with a full season of Premier League football under his belt.
And it is his stylistic similarities with the Tottenham talisman that will give Toney the edge if he follows Wood to St James’ Park. Because, while the latter is the type of wait in the area for crosses to come his way, the former tends to make his own luck, capable of creating something out of nothing, dropping into midfield and linking effectively with his team-mates. Toney and Bryan Mbeumo are, in some ways, a budget version of Kane and Heung-Min Son.
And, in short, he is a better fit for Howe’s favoured, forward-thinking style than the Wood. More stylish, less static.
Second time lucky for Toney?
“He’s a handful in every game in any league,” former Brentford ace Hermann Hreidarsson tells talkSPORT.
“He’s got a bit of everything, he’s powerful, he’s pacey and skilful. Year-by-year your football IQ goes up. He’s a world-class player. He can go wherever he wants.”
Wood was never supposed to be a long-term solution. He was brought in, during January, in a desperate attempt to fill a void created by Callum Wilson’s injury. That his arrival weakened a direct relegation rival was a bonus.
But if Toney returns to make up for lost time at St James’, Wood’s Newcastle career may be even more short-lived than anyone had imagined.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
