Newcastle United are reportedly facing strong competition from fellow newly-promoted Premier League side Huddersfield Town in the pursuit of Ligue 1 winger Marcus Coco. The Under-21 French international has been on Rafael Benitez’s priority list since the beginning of this summer but nothing has materialized so far.
Flanks remain a crisis area for Benitez this summer before the side commences their Premier League season in two weeks. The Newcastle boss had grand plans ahead of the summer transfer period following their ending last season as the title champions. However, the Toon could mostly manage to get unproven talents which could be a risk in the English top-flight football.
The Mags have managed to get in just four players so far- Florian Lejeune from SD Eibar, Jacob Murphy from Norwich City, Javier Manquillo from Atletico Madrid, and Marco Merino from Borussia Dortmund, apart from making Christian Atsu’s deal permanent from Premier League champions Chelsea.
Only one of the above arrivals is a forward indicating how much Benitez trusts his existing players up front. While they had little problems scoring goals last season, the manager would also be wary of their inexperience at the top level. However, Benitez has failed massively in getting in his desired targets despite winning the Championship last season and would hope to survive next season by hook or crook.
EA Guingamp’s Coco remains a largely unproven talent too. The 21-year-old has broken into the side’s first team back in 2014 and has had a decent run so far. In the 78 games that he has played for the side so far over three seasons, he has managed just five goals and five assists. He has seen more regular chances in France’s domestic cup competitions, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue, but could hardly make any real impact.
And he could be one of the many underperformers that Benitez is eyeing to bring. The likes of Manquillo and Merino could also make little mark with Sunderland and Dortmund before they came in. However, Coco is expected by many to surpass the average mark. Guingamp have produced some good talents over the years with Arsenal skipper Laurent Koscielny being one of them, and Newcastle face competition from Southampton too, in landing him.
Although at 180cm, Coco isn’t the tallest of forwards to play in the Premier League, he has done quite well from aerial duels in Ligue 1 and could be a surprise package. However, his offside awareness and lack of ability to hold the ball would remain a concern for Benitez.
