Newcastle interested in move for striker with buyout clause – Reports
Newcastle are looking to buy Ross McCormack in the summer transfer window according to reports today.
The Scottish striker is said to have a £12m release clause in his contract and the Mail say that as well as Newcastle, both Norwich and Aston Villa see the Fulham striker as the man to score the goals to get instant promotion back to the Premier League.
Newcastle were interested in Ross McCormack two years ago and at the time Leeds claimed that the Magpies actually made a bid for the forward but wouldn’t match the £11m that Fulham then paid in summer 2014.
The Leeds owner Massimo Cellino said at the time he would rather have sold to Newcastle than to a Championship rival but the money was too good to turn down.
In August 2014 Ross McCormack turned 28 and little surprise Mike Ashley refused to pay the asking price, instead totally wasting £6m on Emmanuel Riviere who has scored one league goal in two years at Newcastle.
Whether McCormack would/could have done it in the Premier League is an unknown but he certainly has shown he can score in the Championship. In total scoring 66 goals in 134 Championship starts over the course of the last three seasons.
The last two of those seasons playing for Fulham who have been fighting relegation both years, making the striker’s goal tally all the more impressive.
With everybody still waiting for Rafa Benitez to be hopefully confirmed, we are naturally still totally in the dark as to which players he sees as doing a job in the Championship, particularly with none of Mitrovic, Perez or Cisse reaching double figures this season.
When it comes to Championship scorers, these are the seven who scored the most goals this past 2015/16 season.
Gray and Rhodes are now in the Premier League and Hernandez could join them if Hull win the play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday.
Ross McCormack certainly stands out as the most reliable option with form in that division, so little wonder he will be in demand despite turning 30 in the coming August. An added bonus is that the Fulham striker also got 9 assists as well as his 21 goals this past season.
Top goalscorers in the Championship 2015/16 (number of goals and then total of assists in brackets):
25 (9) Andre Gray (Burnley)
21 (9)Ross McCormack (Fulham)
21 (2) Abel Hernandez (Hull)
19 (3) Jonathan Kodjia (Bristol City)
17 (6) Tomer Hemed (Brighton)
17 (4) Nahki Wells (Huddersfield)
16 (2) Jordan Rhodes (Middlesbrough/Blackburn)
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