We reported a couple of days ago that Newcastle are again interested in signing 23 year-old Dutch striker Luc Castaignos, who according to our records the Magpies were interested in signing back in 2012 when he was a 19 year-old at Inter-Milan.
Rafa Benitez is looking to bring in at least one more striker before the end of August, although our 9th signing of the summer is expected to be 20 year-old left back Brendan Galloway from Everton on a season long loan – and Brendan will be our first loan signing.
Luc Castaignos – 23 year-old Eintracht Frankfurt striker
Brendan took his medical yesterday at Newcastle and is expected to be announced by the club today.
The new news on Luc Castaignos is that Premier League club Southampton have also been linked with Luc, as they try to fill the vacancy left by the departed Italian International striker Graziano Pelle.
So at the moment it seems a two way battle with the Saints – always assuming the reports we are after Luc are accurate.
As Rafa has pointed out this summer as the window has gone on – Premier League clubs are entering the market for players – and with the new £5.1B three year deal having kicked in this summer the price tends to go up on any player a PL club are interested in.
So it could be that the price is being forced up although earlier reports were that Eintracht Frankfurt were asking only around £4M for their striker.
Castaignos struggled a bit in the Bundesliga last season scoring only 5 goals in 17 appearances and the news is the German club are willing to sell this summer.
Most reports suggest that Rafa is not close to a striker signing this week, but that Luc is a player being looked at by the Spanish gaffer.
Here is some information we have gathered on Luc who as we said has been scouted for four years by Graham Carr.
Luc joined the Feyenoord Academy at age 14 in 2007 and came through their Youth Academy there before signing on at Inter-Milan in 2011 at the age of 18.
Luc stayed in Italy for only one year before coming back to Holland four years ago and signing for FC Twente.
He stayed at FC Twente for three years and scored 42 goals and 11 assists in 114 games for the Dutch side, before he moved last summer to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
The 23 year-old 6ft 2ins striker turns 24 next month.
Luc has played 15 times with 6 goals for the Dutch U-21 side and he made a total of 50 appearances for Dutch youth sides with 27 goals.
Luc is the all-time top scorer of the Holland U-17 national team with 13 goals in 17 appearances, and in the 2009 UEFA European U-17 Football Championship he was the top scorer in that tournament.
Comments welcome.
Note: The initiative “It’s Not Just Black and White” was partly inspired by the recent sad paparazzi photos of Paul Gascoigne, and a number of supporters have banded together to draw attention to the complexities of mental health and alcoholism – their action line is “It’s not just black and white”.
The group is not asking for donations but is simply keen to raise awareness of the problem through their web-site here.
2 comments so far
jeraziah
Aug 10, 2016 at 10:40 AM
Comment #1I really dont think this guy is the solution to our striker problems. Unproven. Failed in Bundesliga. Anyone can score goals in Eredivise/Netherlands.
BandB
Aug 10, 2016 at 1:45 PM
Comment #2Hello jeraziah
What you doing back here?