Newcastle still in race for Luis Suarez after move collapses - Report

Newcastle United aren't thought to be in the hunt for a new striker this summer, but the links with Colombian forward Luis Suarez continue regardless.

Eddie Howe publicly backed his trio of strikers at the back end of the season, insisting that next season we're going to see the best of Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade and Will Osula.

While we do believe we will see improvements in all three, particularly after a full pre-season, we are apprehensive that we're not adding another option just in case.

The media continues to link Newcastle with strikers, albeit far more infrequently, but Portuguese outlet Record (via Sport Witness) is still adamant that Newcastle are keeping tabs on Sporting's Luis Suarez.

Luis Suarez is back on the market after a bizarre few weeks

Sport Witness explains the strange story around Suarez's potential move to Turkey, which has since collapsed.

Turkish businessman Hakan Safi had claimed that he'd got a deal for Luis Suarez all tied up, but that wasn’t enough to seal him a win in the Fenerbahce presidential election. So, following his defeat, all the talks of Suarez moving to the Turkish side disappeared.

That leaves the 28-year-old on the market, although Sporting are still reluctant to sell, especially after the form he showed last season, in which he scored 36 goals in 51 outings.

Suarez has a £69m release clause and Sporting insist that for any club to take him off their hands, they must activate said clause. Newcastle were reported to have made a bid in May, again by Record, but Craig Hope rubbished those claims.

It's not happening, and here's why

The release clause alone puts this firmly in the 'unlikely' column for Newcastle. Even if the stories are true that we're monitoring the Colombian striker, we don't see any world where we fork out over £60 million on any one player this summer. That's not what the strategy is right now.

Additionally, at 28, Luis Suarez is certainly out of the age range Ross Wilson is focusing on. While there could be exceptions made, it's extremely unlikely that he'll make an exception for a player who is also going to cost a fortune.

Newcastle were bitten last year, paying £55 million for Yoane Wissa, who turned 29 a week after he signed. If this summer is about learning from recent mistakes, that's certainly one we need to take a lesson from.

Luis Suarez will lead the line for Colombia at the World Cup, so he could be one to watch out of curiosity.