Newcastle Shift Focus To Metz Striker After Swansea Pinch French Ace

By Jak Penny / June 23, 2014

Newcastle have revived their interest Metz striker Diafra Sakho after being beaten to the punch by Swansea in the race to sign free agent Bafetimbi Gomis (pictured above)

Our year-long efforts to sign Gomis appear to have been in vain with the French forward rumoured to be on the verge of completing a surprise move to South Wales with the Express claiming the Swans have offered him a salary that exceeds the reported £75,000-a-week we put on the table.

https://twitter.com/ElasticoChop/status/481004549650792448

To be frank it wouldn't make fiscal sense to make Gomis, who turns 29 in August, one of the highest paid players at St James' Park in spite of our desperation to strengthen our front-line options.

Thus, it's forced the Magpies into a change of direction in the hunt for a new striker and Senegalese goal-getter Sakho has re-emerged as a target in the Chronicle this morning and we could snap him up for around £2 million with just a year left on his contract.

We could face competition from Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Marseille for the 24-year-old after he banged in 20 goals in 37 games for Metz in France€™s Ligue 2 last season and managing director Lee Charnley will have to move quickly if Newcastle give him the green light to make an approach for Sakho.

But it won't be enough to pacify Toon supporters who've been left nonplussed by our failure to secure either Gomis or Hertha Berlin star Pierre-Michel Lassoga, who reportedly walked out of the room during negotiations and now has his heart set on a return to Hamburg.