Newcastle are addressing the wrong area of the pitch in their Mangala pursuit

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Benitez’s desire for a striker has been well documented but their latest transfer target plays on front of goal for the opposite reason

Newcastle fans will have been heavily disappointed when news broke of Daniel Sturridge’s transfer from Liverpool to West Brom.

Rafa Benitez has been on hot pursuit of a striker for the entire January transfer window, however, with just over 24 hours left before it shuts, the club are yet to land a single one of their forward targets.

Yesterday, news broke that Newcastle had made an enquiry over Manchester City’s French defender Eliaquim Mangala, 26, following Aymeric Laporte’s arrival at the Etihad from Athletic Bilbao.

According to the Daily Mail, City are keen on allowing the centre-back to leave on loan to St James’ Park, however, The Toon will have to pay the majority of his £80,000-per-week wages.

Newcastle managed some business in the transfer window, bringing in Chelsea wide man Kenedy on loan, however, the club have failed to land a goal scorer, which was at the forefront of their priorities, and not for no reason.

Benitez’s side have seriously struggled in front of goal this season. Joselu and Ayoze Perez remain the club’s top scorers in all competitions with 4 goals each, whilst the formerly prolific Dwight Gayle has failed to find his scoring boots on his return to the Premier League.

The former Crystal Palace star, who bagged 23 goals in the Championship last season, has only netted 3 times in 22 appearances this term meaning that the four Newcastle front men (including Mitrovic) have netted 13 goals between them.

Not a brilliant return for a side hopeful of reaching the heights of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Addressing the media ahead of tomorrow night’s clash against Burnley, the Magpies boss insisted that there was still plenty of time in the window to bring in new faces.

According to the Chronicle Benitez said: “Still we have time. I am still confident we can do something but I won’t talk much about it.

“Yes we are working on names as we have been working for more than on month on.

“We have a list. Still we have some time. We have an important game and I want to concentrate on that.”

Newcastle fans will be praying that somewhere on this ‘list’ is a striker who is going to bolster their attacking options, firing in the goals that they have so desperately lacked all season.

there is no doubt that the addition of Mangala wouldn’t be a terrible thing, but with the Newcastle strike force seriously struggling for form, it seems still to fork out £80,000-per-week on wages for a centre-back when the money could be invested elsewhere to the greater benefit of the team’s survival hopes.