OPINION
Newcastle are set to hand themselves an invaluable boost ahead of their return to the Premier League next season, by adding a prolific goalscorer to their ranks this summer.
Rafa Benitez saw his side battle their way to an immediate return to the top-flight by winning the Championship last season, thanks largely to the goals of Dwight Gayle, who scored 23 goals from 34 matches.
However, the Spaniard will need more than just a prolific goalscorer at second-tier level if Newcastle are to challenge in the Premier League, and he knows that.
Gayle has history in the Premier League with Crystal Palace, where he netted 25 goals from 74 appearances, but with the club capable of attracting a more prolific, and more proven goalscorer, why settle for just that.
Their ongoing striker search appears to have led them to Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths, who hit 18 goals for the Scottish club last season, according to a report by the Daily Record.
The newspaper claim that the Magpies are “watching developments closely” with an offer of at least £6million likely to tempt Celtic to part with the 26-year-old.
However, although a £6million deal represents a potential bargain transfer for Benitez and Newcastle, Griffiths is not the calibre of player that they require to fulfil their potential in the Premier League.
Benitez will want his side to do more than just avoid a relegation battle, and while Griffiths has proven he can score goals for Celtic in Scotland and in the Champions League, Newcastle can do much better.
Names such as Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge, Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho have already been frequently tossed around in the English media, and Newcastle would be better looking at them.
Griffiths, 26, could well score the goals necessary to keep Newcastle in the Premier League, but there is an element of risk in putting all their chips on the Scotland international – as there is with any transfer.
However, even though managers will often look for the cheaper alternative, on this particular occasion, spending more money on a new goalscorer is arguably the best approach.
Given Griffiths is also not the first-choice striker at Celtic, the fact that Hoops chief Brendan Rodgers has doubts should give Benitez relative cause for concern.
The Scotland striker has been regularly challenged, both publicly and privately, to prove his fitness after a series of niggling concerns throughout his Parkhead stay, and that should put doubt in the mind.
He sealed an impressive finish to the domestic season in the absence of the injured Moussa Dembele, while his two stunning free-kicks helped Scotland hold England to a 2-2 draw in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday.
If Griffiths can stay fully fit and keep up his form into the start of the new season, and if they can’t snap up their preferred targets, then Newcastle should consider the transfer.
But at this stage, they would be better off looking at other targets.