Newcastle Should Splash The Cash On Besiktas Striker Cenk Tosun And Shouldn’t Think Twice
Newcastle United have shown a definite interest in Besiktas’ Turkish striker Cenk Tosun and are looking to make a €20m bid for him in the January transfer window, according to reports.
Their attempts to land the forward for such a price might appear a tad ambitious as the German-born striker has also been sought by Tottenham Hotspur among others.
Besiktas president Fikret Orman has stated that their valuation is more than €20m for their main man who scored an important goal during the club’s impressive 1-1 draw with Monaco in the Champions League recently.
In fact, the President doesn’t even have a set figure in mind yet but points out how much others have gone for in recent months. Orman mentioned that asking €20million for Tosun was “not crazy”, as he says that Kylian Mbappe is going for €180m and Naby Keita for €80m. Frankly, you’d have to agree with him.
Tosun has 5 goals and an assist in the Turkish Super Lig and more impressively, 4 goals in 4 Champions League games, and really does look like a proper player. His figures of 10 goals and 2 assists in 15 appearances across all competitions mark him out as one of Europe’s hottest properties right now and a move to England seems like a natural step for him.
The news of Besiktas’ increasing valuation of him though is a major blow to the Premier League clubs who are looking to snare him, Newcastle included.
A lot depends on who is holding the money bag at St James’ Park when January rolls around, though based purely on performance and potential, I’d say there is no doubt whatsoever that a bid of more than €20m should not prohibit Newcastle from attempting to land the striker.
We keep hearing how the club cannot or will not spend money and certainly, their transfer dealings have been dwarfed by other Premier League clubs in recent seasons.
However, when you consider that £13m was spent on Aleksandar Mitrovic two years ago and £10m on Dwight Gayle for a Championship season, the fee for Tosun does not look out of place at all.
There is the potential for Tosun to come to England and hit 20+ goals and if he does that, he would immediately fall into the £50million+ category in today’s market. So if anything, the fee could simply be an investment.