Darwin Nunez to Newcastle? - Toon tipped to make cut-price move for ex-Liverpool flop

Here we go again. Newcastle United have been severely lacking in the striking department this season despite a £124 million outlay in the summer.

Bad luck and poor judgment have been the root cause of Newcastle's lack of goals this season, having to rely on the likes of Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Bruno Guimaraes to find the net as our strikers have been misfiring.

Nick Woltemade started strong with four goals in five games, but Premier League opposition soon sussed him out, and with no time to work on the training pitch, he was rendered ineffective. While Yoane Wissa struggled with injuries, and when he came back, he also suffered from a lack of training.

Will Osula has now been called upon to lead the line, and he's doing a decent job of it of late scoring four goals in his last six league appearances.

Everyone is expecting a marked improvement from both of the summer signings, should they remain at the club next season, but it's also expected that the club will move to bring in another striker to give Eddie Howe more options.

Darwin Nunez will be available for free in the summer

The Chronicle has given us all a fright on Thursday, suggesting that the Magpies could swoop for Liverpool flop Darwin Nunez who has agreed to leave Saudi club Al-Hilal at the end of the season.

Things started brightly for the Uruguayan at Al-Hilal, but in January, they landed Karim Benzema and Pro League rules only allow clubs to have eight foreign players born before 2003 in their squad. Al-Hilal now have nine, so it was Nunez who was cut from the squad.

As a result, Nunez hasn't played since February and agreed to an exit in the summer, which means he will be a free agent. The Chronicle reports on Newcastle's long-standing interest in the 26-year-old during his Benfica days, adding to the belief we might jus explore a cut-price move.

A bargain or bad move? 

We don't really think this will happen, but if it does, I'm going to have to ask the powers that be to remove all traces of NUFCFeed because I have been brutally critical of Darwin Nunez over the years.

Before he moved to Liverpool, I was genuinely excited by the links, but watching him play in the Premier League, it was like watching a toddler taking their first steps. Sometimes it was like he'd never even seen a ball before.

He had his moments, sure, and when you actually look at his stats - 25 goals and 16 assists in 95 appearances - he doesn't actually look too bad, but he's a meme. The stats don't show the chances he missed. I'm not a fan of xG as a metric, but it rates chances by the likelihood they'll be scored, and Nunez missed some near 100 percenters in his time.

He's still only 26, so probably only just hitting his prime. On a free transfer, it's not that big of a risk if he'd be willing to be paid reasonable wages, rather than Liverpool/Saudi money. But can he just be a last resort, please?

Rumour Rating: 3/10 - At the minute, it's just The Chronicle putting two and two together; there are no concrete links. We feel his wage demands would be a big deciding factor for Newcastle, as will his perception amongst Premier League fans. We're praying this is just a ploy to get column inches for The Chronicle.