Newcastle United were keen on landing Feyenoord’s Nicolai Jorgensen in January.
Newcastle United are seemingly always in the market for a striker, after years of landing struggling forwards unable to find the net – just look at Islam Slimani in January.
Slimani, a loan signing from Leicester City, was a major flop at St James’ Park, and fans will remember that he was snapped up because Newcastle didn’t sign Rafael Benitez’s top target, Nicolai Jorgensen.
The Dane had impressed with Feyenoord in their title-winning 2016-17 campaign, hitting 25 goals in 42 games, and whilst his goal record slipped last season, Benitez was still convinced by him.
As reported by The Guardian, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley was willing to back a move worth a club-record-equalling £16million, but not the £20million asking price – and that led to the deal falling through.
Many were disappointed that Benitez wasn’t backed with the signing he wanted, especially when Slimani flopped on Tyneside, but the tide has somewhat turned in recent months.
Fans saw Jorgensen struggle to make an impact for Denmark at this summer’s World Cup in Russia, in which he ended up suffering an injury which had kept him out of action until a substitute appearance for Feyenoord on Sunday.
Now, RTV Rijnmond report that Jorgensen has now suffered another injury, and whilst it’s unclear just how serious the injury is right now, it’s another blow for the striker, who isn’t having the best 2018.
With goals and even games hard to come by for the striker, Ashley’s decision to not spend £20million on Jorgensen may actually have been right all along – but the criticism of his reign and his reluctance to sanction a major deal for any striker, even after selling Aleksandar Mitrovic, remains hard to take.
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