Anthony Elanga joined Newcastle in a £55million summer transfer deal
Sean McCormick is a football writer covering Newcastle United for ChronicleLive. After starting his career covering North East sport, he has had a spell working as an editor on the Manchester Evening News. He also writes about darts and boxing. He joined us in 2016.
Anthony Elanga impressed in a new position for Sweden(Image: JURE MAKOVEC/AFP via Getty Images)
If there was one thing lacking from Newcastle’s opening three games of the season it was the lack of a clinical edge up front.
Newcastle dominated all three matches against Aston Villa, Liverpool and Leeds United but emerged from those games with just two points and two goalless draws.
It wasn’t for the lack of creativity. Newcastle created plenty of openings in each of those games but lacked the proven goalscorer to put the finishing touches to some of their attacking moves.
As Alexander Isak continued to push for a move away from the club, it took Newcastle until the final three days of the transfer windows to sign forwards Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa to help solve those goalscoring woes.
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In the meantime, Anthony Gordon was twice asked to lead the line in an unnatural centre-forward position before his red card against Liverpool saw him pick up a three match ban, while William Osula struggled from the start in West Yorkshire.
One player who wasn’t asked to lead the line was new £55million signing Anthony Elanga. The Swedish international has shown flashes of his brilliance from the right-hand side in the opening three games but that is yet to return any goals or assists.
The 23-year-old scored six goals and registered 12 assists for Nottingham Forest in all competitions last season and the signs are there that they will start to flow at Newcastle soon, too.
But if there is ever a shortage of central forwards later in the season, he has proven at international level this week he is capable of filling the void.
With Isak not fit enough to start for his country after skipping training at Newcastle throughout the summer while he tried to force through a move to Liverpool, Elanga was pushed forward to partner Arsenal forward Viktor Gyokeres up front for his country.
And he quickly justified that decision with a goal against Slovenia in Friday’s 2-2 draw. Elanga played a neat one-two with Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari before skipping past several defenders and Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak before turning the ball into the back of the net.
Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg, working as a pundit on the game, described the ‘best player on the pitch’, suggesting he ‘looked dangerous every time’ he got on the ball.
He started up front again in Monday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Kosovo but the former Manchester United youngster showed enough to suggest he is more than a viable option up front should Howe need him.
If Howe also opts to switch things up during a match and go with two forwards, Elanga has also shown he is more than capable of doing just that.
One of the big positives from Newcastle’s transfer window has been the fact they have improved their options all over the pitch. In a busy schedule with eight added Champions League games this season, that versatility in the squad could prove to be key.
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