Newcastle United's £18m striker 'targeted' by new Premier League club as PIF chief jets to UK

We are officially into the final week of the January transfer window and Newcastle United are yet to conclude any business. There have been no incomings or outgoings to report on at St James’ Park but that has not quelled the wave of rumours dominating the news agenda.

Will Newcastle sign anyone? Could anyone leave? There is also the small issue of an FA Cup clash against Fulham which has been placed on the back burner. Here is your Shields Gazette daily digest for Thursday, January 25.

Chelsea chase Wilson

Chelsea are considering meeting Newcastle’s £18million asking price for Toon number nine Wilson, according to reports. Despite scoring goals when called upon, it has been another frustrating campaign for the 31-year-old due to injury.

He has not played since Boxing Day, with Alexander Isak enjoying a fine run of form in his absence. An alarming stat is how Wilson has missed 34 per cent of Newcastle’s Premier League fixtures since arriving three-and-a-half years ago.

Now could be the ideal time to cash in for a player they signed for £20million in September 2020. Eddie Howe would be reluctant to lose one of his most trusted lieutenants but Financial Fair Play constraints mean Newcastle must get creative in the transfer market.

Football Transfers are reporting that the Blues are tempted to take him back down south. Chelsea lack experience in their squad and Wilson would provide competition for summer recruit Nicolas Jackson.

Yasir flying to UK

Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan is heading to London this week, claim the Daily Mail. As the governor of PIF - the sovereign wealth fund with assets worth an estimated $700billion - Al-Rumayyan is a busy man.

A cup clash in the capital as well as the final week of the transfer window may coincide with Newcastle’s chairman jetting to the UK but there is no suggestion the events are related. 

He has, on occasion, had a hands-on approach when it comes to sanctioning funds to bankroll the Magpies’ transfer activity. Co-owner Jamie Rueben also revealed Al Rumayyan’s obsession with data when analysing potential targets.

"Our chairman of the team, Yasir, is probably the most data-driven individual you have ever met,” he said last year. “He really has instilled into this club a discipline of getting all of the facts and all of the data first, and I've learnt a lot from that. We see an incredible amount of data, more than I've ever seen in any other business."