News of Newcastle United’s daring swoop for Eintracht Frankfurt young gun Hugo Ekitike this week certainly prompted some interesting reactions from sections of the St James’ Park faithful. A deal for the Frenchman looked to be dead in the water as of Thursday morning despite early confidence the Magpies could pull off what would have been a club-record deal for a striker Eddie Howe has admired for quite some time.

Newcastle's Sweden international is the complete centre-forward and would make a fine squad even more formidable

The Reds are recruiting from a position of strength having secured the Premier League title last season but know they must spend big to acquire their long-term No.9. They have whittled their search down to two players: Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitiké and Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.