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Claims Newcastle United now making move for the 2013/14 top scorer in Holland

6 years ago
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News on deadline day morning from a number of media is that Newcastle are now  considering a move for Alfred Finnbogason.

The Icelandic international turns 29 tomorrow (Thursday) and is currently with Augsburg in the Bundesliga.

A week ago I actually wrote about him (see below), as with the ‘imminent’ arrival of Nicolai Jorgensen for £20m…I did a feature on the 10 players who had been top scorers in Holland before Jorgensen did that last season.

Alfred Finnbogason was top scorer in Holland in 2013/14 with 29 goals and on the back of that got a relatively big money (£7m) move to La Liga with Real Sociedad.

That proved a disaster with only six league starts and after loan spells at Olympiakos and Augsburg, he joined the German club permanently 18 months ago for £3m.

His scoring record for Augsburg includes 21 goals in 44 Bundesliga starts (plus one as a sub).

Scoring 11 goals in 18 league starts this season and helping Augsburg into eighth place in the table, only five points off second top, you would have to question just how keen the German club would be to sell their top scorer…

Newcastle are desperate for a striker and Alfred Finnbogason is scoring goals at a decent level, the big question of course is that if the club were willing to sell, would Ashley back Rafa?

Part of my article a week ago (Wednesday 24 January 2018), Alfred Finnbogason was top scorer (with 29 goals) in Holland in 2013/14:

The last 11 seasons, top goalscorer in the Dutch domestic Eredivisie league – number of goals scored that season in brackets:

2006/07 Afonso Alves (34)

The Brazilian ended up joining Premier League side Middlesbrough and was a total disaster, scoring 10 PL goals in two seasons. After Boro he headed off to play for teams in the Middle East.

2007/08 Klaas Jan Huntelaar (33)

Made a massive £24m move to Real Madrid and whilst it didn’t really work out there, he did ok at AC Milan before proving to be a very good striker for Schalke in the Budesliga, as well as scoring a lot of goals for Holland.

2008/09 Mounir El Hamdoui (23)

Played another season at AZ Alkmaar before a £4m move to Ajax where he scored 13 goals in his first season. Failed badly with Fiorentina in Serie A and Malaga in La Liga, his career going nowhere.

2009/10 Luis Suarez (35)

Rumour is he went on to do ok…when not biting people. A £20m+ move to Liverpool before a £70m+ one to Barcelona where he has excelled.

2010/11 Bjorn Vleminckx (23)

A bit of a low scoring season allowed the Belgian to be the league’s top scorer, moved from NEC to Brugge and then club football in Turkey, never scored double figures in league football again.

2011/12 Bas Dost (32)

The infamous Bas Dost. Linked with Newcastle United every transfer window since. Joined Wolfsburg for £6m and struggled for games but despite never really becoming a surefire first teamer, his goals per game was very decent. Has scored for fun in the weak Portuguese league ever since a £9m move 18 months ago.

2012/13 Wilfried Bony (31)

Did very well at Swansea after getting a £12m move to the Premier League from Vitesse Arnhem, scoring 26 PL goals in 43 PL starts (plus 11 off bench. However, ever since his £30m transfer to Manchester City he looked as though he thought it was job done and has only scored 11 PL goals in the last three years, now back at Swansea.

2013/14 Alfred Finnbogason (29)

Scored an amazing 53 league goals in 65 appearances, earning a £7m move to Real Sociedad in La Liga, failed there and at Olympiakos. Has got his career back on track a little bit with 21 goals in 43 Bundesliga matches in the past two seasons.

2014/15 Memphis Depay (22)

A disastrous £30m signing for Manchester United, part of the same title winning team as Gini Wijnaldum but somehow cost Man U twice as much as Newcastle paid for the PSV Captain, Maybe too much to handle at the age of 21 Depay scored only two PL goals in 18 months. Moving to Lyon a year ago for £14m, Depay has found things easier in the weaker French league, scoring 14 in 29 Ligue 1 starts (plus 8 off the bench)

2015/16 Vincent Janssen (27)

Yet another top scorer in Holland who found life tough in the Premier League. A £17m move from AZ to Tottenham saw him score only two goals in 27 PL appearances, although only seven of those were as a starter. Now trying his luck on loan in Turkey but so far this season has only scored two league goals for Fenerbahce.

2016/17 Nicolai Jorgensen (21)

????

The 21 goals for Nicolai Jorgensen is actually a very low total to end up as top scorer in the Eredivisie, it is 1996/97 when a striker finished top with such a low total.
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