Newcastle are now keeping tabs on exciting winger Jeremy Doku, according to The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder.
The Lowdown: Magpies busy in the market
The Magpies got their business off to a fine start under the new leadership in January, snapping up five players who should all feasibly make the first XI much better.
Kieran Trippier was a revelation before his injury, Dan Burn won the Man of the Match award on his debut, Bruno Guimarães comes with a huge reputation, while Chris Wood and Matt Targett rank as the third and fourth best players in the squad, according to Whoscored.
However, it seems the activity in January won’t stop more big spending taking place in the summer, with PIF already eyeing new targets to pursue in the next window.
The Latest: Doku being monitored
According to Ryder, writing for The Chronicle, Magpies scouts have been watching Doku, a 19 year-old winger at Ligue 1 club Rennes.
The French outfit have a real reputation of developing future superstars, selling the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha, Eduardo Camavinga and Edouard Mendy for huge profits in recent years.
The report says Doku has been a target for quite some time, and is now being monitored by Steve Nickson and his scouting team, while Liverpool have also shown interest in the past.
The Latest: Saint-Maximin 2.0?
Sharing his story on Twitter, Ryder labelled the news of interest in Doku as ‘exciting’, and it really isn’t hard to see why.
The young Belgium international, who has earned ten caps in a Red Devils squad stacked with competition for attacking places, stunned spectators at Euro 2020, completing a ‘mesmerising’ eight dribbles in a match against Italy.
According to Opta, that is the most take-ons completed by a teenager in a World Cup or European Championships match since the data became available (1966 onwards). Gary Lineker’s comment perhaps best summed up his form at the tournament, saying: “Young Jeremy Doku is making me dizzy. There’ll be a queue of clubs wanting a Doku sign.”
Capable of playing on both flanks but most comfortable on the right, the prospect of deploying Doku opposite Allan Saint-Maximin is certainly an enticing one.
The one area he may need to improve is his end product, scoring just twice in 12 appearances in all competitions this season. He has also suffered with hamstring and knee injuries, but if Eddie Howe can keep him fit and get him firing, the Magpies could have two of the most exciting wingers in the league.
In other news, Newcastle are already eyeing another exciting backroom appointment after Dan Ashworth…