Why Newcastle should make a January move for Joshua King

According to Chronicle Live, Joshua King has emerged as a realistic target for Newcastle in January. The general consensus is that the club have become too reliant on summer signing Callum Wilson and a new forward should be signed. King was the subject of interest from West Ham, Spurs and Newcastle themselves in the summer but he ended up staying at Bournemouth.

Profile

Joshua King is a 28-year-old Norwegian forward who plays for Championship club AFC Bournemouth. He started his youth career at Romsas in 1998 and moved to Valerenga in 2006. After two years, he joined Manchester United’s academy.

While he was in their youth setup, he was sent on loan to various clubs such as Preston North End, Borussia Monchengladbach, Hull City, and Blackburn Rovers. The forward only made two appearances for Manchester United’s senior side. (h/t Transfermarkt)

In January 2013, Blackburn made his move permanent as he made 72 appearances for them, scoring 8 goals. Three years later, Bournemouth signed him and he has been ever-present for them since. He has played 175 games to date, scoring 50 goals and providing 17 assists. (h/t Transfermarkt)

The forward is quite experienced for Norway, with 51 appearances and 17 goals for the national side.

Joshua King can be worth a go for Newcastle

It’s rather baffling as to how reliant Newcastle have become on Callum Wilson since his arrival. The likes of Dwight Gayle, Joelinton and Andy Carroll have hardly contributed to the goal tally to help out Wilson. Even the wingers such as Saint-Maximin, Almiron and Murphy have hardy chipped in with goals. This leaves Steve Bruce in a precarious position in the event Wilson is injured or needs to be rested.

Joshua King may be a solution to their problems. The Bournemouth striker is an experienced man in the Premier League and has been quite prolific for his team despite the team’s form and quality. With his contract running out, Newcastle can look to take advantage of the situation.

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The only drawback to his signing would be his inconsistency. Apart from that, Newcastle should definitely be pursuing King given his exploits for Bournemouth over the last few seasons. It would give some depth to the attack and the presence of former Bournemouth players, Fraser and Wilson would help him ease into the club.