Newcastle face a meeting with Wesley after missing out on signing him

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Aston Villa beat Newcastle United to signing Wesley.

With the international break approaching its end, fans will be desperate for the return of domestic action, with Aston Villa and Newcastle United fans having to wait a little longer than most.

The two sides meet at Villa Park on Monday night, meaning they’re the last game of the Premier League weekend, though that long wait is at least balanced by extra recovery time for international stars.

One player who has enjoyed a dream international break is Villa striker Wesley, who made his Brazil debut in a friendly defeat to Argentina over the weekend, and he will now be looking to impress against the team that could have signed him just weeks before he joined Villa.

Newcastle had lined up a move for Wesley, after seeing him notch 17 goals and 10 assists for Club Brugge last season, but Rafael Benitez’s uncertainty at St James’ Park scuppered a move.

Agent Paulo Nehmy told The Laziali that he had held talks with Newcastle, but a move depended on Benitez committing his future to the club – and he ended up leaving the Magpies in June.

The Chronicle even claimed that Wesley was ‘excited’ to join Newcastle, but as speculation over Benitez’s future continued to rumble on, his agents moved on and joined Villa instead for £22million (Guardian).

Newcastle signed fellow Brazilian striker Joelinton instead, once Steve Bruce had been landed as Benitez’s replacement. So how are the pair faring?

Wesley’s record of four goals to Joelinton’s one shows he may be the more clinical striker, especially as Wesley has registered 13 shots on target to Joelinton’s six.

However, other stats show how impressive Joelinton has been. He’s created 11 chances to Wesley’s five and won 57 aerials to Wesley’s 24, with Joelinton having a better all-round game so far.

Newcastle will be hoping that Wesley doesn’t come back to haunt them on Monday, but they will still have belief that Joelinton can be the better signing in the long run.