Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has been identified as a potential January transfer target for Fulham this week.
According to The Sun, the Cottagers will battle neighbours and bitter rivals Brentford for the England international’s signature.
The 32-year-old's current contract is set to expire in June 2025.
Raul Jimenez has enjoyed a recent upturn in form that has seen him net in back-to-back games against West Ham and Newcastle United respectively.
However, Jay Stansfield’s shock Deadline Day departure to Birmingham and Rodrigo Muniz’s goal drought seems to have planted a seed of doubt into the mind of Marco Silva regarding the firepower of his striking options.
A prolific goal scorer, Wilson has netted 88 times in 221 Premier League appearances.
The forward's six-year stint at Bournemouth (2014-2020) was where he enjoyed red-hot form and garnered a reputation as one of the deadliest strikers in English football.
In the 2018-19 season alone, he scored 14 goals and contributed nine assists.
When the striker made the switch from the south coast to Tyneside in September 2020 for £20 million, he was joined just over a year later by former Cherries manager Eddie Howe following the Saudi takeover.
While Wilson would find the back of the net on 20 occasions for Newcastle, it was an injury-hampered first two years for the Magpies. Hamstring and calf issues would ultimately restrict him to 39 matches, 51% of the total available.
Concerned, and justifiably so, Newcastle completed the statement signing of Alexander Isak for a club-record fee of £63 million in August 2022; however, Wilson refused to give up his starting spot with a whimper.
In that campaign, the Englishman would register an impressive 18 goals and five assists in only 21 starts, bolstered by a really good expected goals of 16.45.
He was also taking almost double the number of shots compared to the previous year, 73 as opposed to 35, and had the most touches in the box since his days playing in red and black down south, 138.
Wilson was ageing like fine wine at the not-so-tender age of 30.
The main takeaway from the attacker's success in 2022-23 was except for missing four games at the beginning of the campaign owing to a hamstring problem, he had largely been injury free and subsequently able to apply his trade.
That being said, the injury woes returned last season, and Wilson was unavailable for 23 games across league and cup competitions. This meant that he featured 20 times in black and white, starting a mere nine.
Despite the minimal starts, the honorary Geordie still managed to score nine and increased his efficiency in front of goal with 21 out of his 35 shots on target, 60%.
They were also respectable efforts at an xG of 8.11, albeit over a smaller sample size.
Given that 2023-24 was another injury-stricken season for Wilson, it is important to look at the stats per 90, that way the data provides an accurate comparison to other strikers based on what they can do when actually on the pitch.
The Coventry-born forward averaged 0.81 xG per 90, of players who played under 1000 minutes he ranks in the 94.6% percentile.
In terms of shots on target, he also ranked extremely highly, his 1.92 enough for the 92.9% percentile.
While Wilson is confident from the spot, a valued skill in itself, he still platforms a non-penalty xG of 0.67, 92.9% percentile.
Along with that, the attacker is a huge threat in the penalty area, for touches in the opposition box he rated in the 89.3% percentile and most of his shots were inside the box with all nine goals in and around the six-yard box.
What’s more, under Howe Newcastle set up in a 4-3-3 attacking, which is only slightly different to Silva’s preferred 4-2-3-1.
In the former, the ball tends to drift wider as it advances whereas in the latter the attack is pinched centrally, potentially this could benefit Wilson who will be more involved.
Defending will have to improve, Silva demands his attackers to drop back and help force the turnover, Wilson’s saving grace was that he was dribbled past just 0.37 times a match and won 60% of his tackles.
However, he left a lot to be desired for recoveries and possession won in the final third.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Wilson is grouped in the 34% percentile on defensive actions compared to similar players.
Currently, the Newcastle striker is sidelined with a back injury sustained over the summer.
Speaking last week on the injury, Howe said:
"With Callum, we’re looking at a situation where we’re hoping to have him back in full training by the next international break, ready for the games following.
"Any injury to the hamstring is potentially complex. The back injury is there, but it was connected (to the hamstring issues). There’s been no re-injury, it’s just been a case of readjusting the timescales depending on how he felt.
"We’ve had to listen to his body when he’s delivered the work, and he’s also been rescanned.
"It’s maybe not healed as quickly as we’d hoped, so there’s been a slight adjustment, but hopefully, we’ll have him back fully fit and firing for the next group of games."
Wilson will provide the Whites with a more reliable goalscorer and a suited profile of player, the real challenge for the West London club will be navigating his fitness issues.
As long as the experienced forward can stay fit, the 32-year-old on a cut-price fee would be excellent business.
