Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has given his thoughts about Newcastle United’s signing of Chris Wood.
The striker came in last month after the club had triggered the buy-out clause in his Burnley contract.
The general feeling is that, at £25 million (BBC Sport), Newcastle have overpaid.
But there has also been a sense of needing a centre-forward who has scored goals previously in the English top-flight, and his signing also theoretically weakens Burnley.
So far, Wood has made three appearances for Newcastle. He is yet to get off the mark, and it’s clear he is lacking a bit of confidence just at the moment.
That has been cause for frustration for some.
He will continue to play in Callum Wilson’s absence, and hopefully he’ll break his duck soon.
Neville spoke about Newcastle on his podcast after yesterday’s huge 1-0 win over Aston Villa. And he believes Wood was a good addition by the club.
He said (9:44): “I like the signing of Wood. He had a big impact on the game today. The little flick-ons that he wins in the last 10 minutes that just keep the ball alive in that corner means it’s not coming back at you all the time.
“That fixed presence… I don’t think Newcastle have had that for a few years whereby they’ve got somebody to play up to.
“Yes, he’s not going to score a great amount of goals, I don’t really care about to be honest with you. It’s not his job in the team. I know he’s a centre-forward and people might find that a strange thing to say. But the players I liked playing with at Manchester United weren’t always the best goalscorers.
“I wanted players, as a full-back, that I could hit and that were available and that could show for me. That we could play off.”
Neville – who gave debutant Dan Burn man of the match – went on to brand Wood ‘reliable’. He also said that players like Joelinton, Allan Saint-Maximin and Ryan Fraser would enjoy playing with the New Zealand international.
Chris Wood doing a decent job so far for Newcastle as Gary Neville backs striker, but he could do with a goal
Wood has done OK so far since his transfer. But strikers will always be judged on the amount of goals they score, no matter what their style is.
The Magpies turning out positive results is the main thing.
But hopefully Wood can hit the goal trail again soon. You just get the feeling that he needs his first to alleviate some of the burden on him being a £25 million signing and a specific replacement for Wilson.
Once that comes, we could really see Wood start to flourish.
For now though, he’s doing OK as he gets used to the ways of a new team and manager.
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