Newcastle United have been encouraged to pursue the signing of Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus over Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin when strengthening their attacking options this summer.
That is the opinion of former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who has given his take on the recent transfer rumours coming out of St. James’ Park to Football Insider.
This comes after reports that Calvert-Lewin is on Eddie Howe’s list of transfer targets as the club look to bring in a 20-goal-a-season striker.
Arsenal are reportedly the team that is competing with the Magpies for the Englishman’s signature, however, the Gunners are prioritising the signing of Jesus as their first choice option as their next number nine.
But this has made Robinson question whether Newcastle should be following suit in pursuing the Brazilian over the Everton man.
He said:
“They [Newcastle] play with one up top right now with two players out wide. Is Calvert-Lewin versatile enough to play as one of the wide players, probably not. I also question whether he is better than [Callum] Wilson.
“He has had a hit and miss season. He scored an important goal late on but other than that he struggled.
“I think signing him would be a risk when you take into account how much Everton would want for him.
“I think they should go for someone like Jesus instead. He is the type of player Newcastle should be going after.”
Our thoughts on Robinson’s comments
If you compare the two players, Robinson is correct in the assessment that Jesus would be the better fit than Calvert-Lewin, especially when it comes to his versatility.
During the 2021/22 season, the Brazilian played at right wing, left wing, and centre forward under Pep Guardiola, notching 13 goals and 12 assists in the process in all competitions, with his teammate Bernardo Silva describing him as one of Manchester City’s “most important players,” whilst one journalist dubbed him a “monster.”
Calvert-Lewin, meanwhile, struggled for form and consistency during the season, and played all 18 of his games in all competitions in the centre forward position, scoring just five goals and getting two assists.
The 25-year-old’s boss Frank Lampard has also dismissed speculation suggesting that the number nine could be leaving Goodison Park this summer, saying: “he’s our player and he’s going nowhere”.
This will likely drive up his price tag above the forward’s £37.8m valuation, according to Transfermarkt, and would more likely be in the £42m to £51m range that Fabrizio Romano has touted that City will expect for Jesus, with the Citizens’ forward being valued at £45m according to Transfermarkt. And so if the players are roughly the same price, then it would make perfect sense for Newcastle to target Jesus over Calvert-Lewin.
With the heavy investment that the Tyneside club’s new owners will be willing to spend this summer, a marquee signing will be a priority, and if they can pull off a deal to snatch the Sao Paulo native ahead of Arsenal, it will be a real statement of intent for Eddie Howe’s side ahead of the new season.
And in other news, Newcastle are reportedly in the market for another highly sought after striker…