The season is deepening, moving toward patterns more tangible than those the early weeks comment on a team. For Newcastle United, this is the case.
Newcastle started the 2025/26 campaign poorly, but Eddie Howe’s side were rocked by upheaval across the summer transfer window and lost their talisman, Alexander Isak, after a long attritional battle with Liverpool.
Isak, 26, scored many goals for the Tynesiders. Too many to name. One of which, though, came against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, and so for all the negativity and understandable criticism that came with that unwanted transfer saga, Isak’s legacy lives on.
But he’s a Newcastle player no more, and Howe knew it was crucial that a fitting replacement was brought in.
Well, while Yoane Wissa still waits to make his bow after his transfer from Brentford, having injured his knee on international duty, Nick Woltemade has enjoyed a fast start to life in England, impressing once again in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
Newcastle spent well on Woltemade
There are some out there who seem to think Newcastle overspent when welcoming Woltemade from Stuttgart in a club-record £69m deal.
Here’s the thing. Newcastle’s summer struggles for a striker were well-documented, to say the least. The Magpies have landed themselves one of the most exciting young strikers in the business, and if that makes them ‘fools’, as some have suggested, then so be it.
And against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League, the German, 23 years old, added to his goal tally, getting the last touch after Sandro Tonali’s strike took a deflection.
Six games into his Newcastle career, the intelligent, rangy striker has three goals, and he has also shown off a deft technical game that will only improve as he and Howe’s system get more comfortable with each other.
He has what it takes to make Isak but a distant memory at St. James’ Park and across Newcastle. Woltemade is the real deal, but he’s also young and unpolished.
Newcastle, actually, have another player who could be their next version of the Swedish sensation, and he showed he’s getting back to his best with a rip-roaring performance in Belgium.
Howe’s new version of Isak
Class is permanent. This Howe knows. And so while Anthony Gordon toiled his way through the 2024/25 campaign and started off the current campaign on the wrong footing, he, and all involved at Newcastle, knew that time and hard work would see the England international rise back to his former, Player of the Year-winning form.
Anthony Gordon looks dejected for Liverpool
Gordon is 24 and considered one of the most talented wingers in the Premier League, with his rapid pace and persistence in driving play forward and making things happen in the final third, setting him apart from his positional rivals. He has described himself as a “nightmare for anyone” pitted against him.
But last season’s return of only six goals in the Premier League simply wasn’t good enough for a wide forward of his calibre.
Well, we’re still in the early phase of the new campaign, and Gordon hasn’t clicked into gear on the domestic front, but his performances in the Champions League suggest he is rising back to his best, awarded a 9/10 match rating by the Shields Gazette after converting two penalties and proving a livewire throughout.
Anthony Gordon in the UCL (25/26)
Stats
vs Barca
vs USG
Minutes played
90′
90′
Goals
1
2
Assists
0
0
Touches
28
62
Shots (on target)
1 (1)
3 (2)
Accurate passes
14/16 (88%)
24/31 (77%)
Key passes
0
0
Dribbles
1/3
5/8
Tackles
0
1
Ground duels
3/6
9/17
Data via Sofascore
Journalist Henry Winter said his performance was “quick and clinical“, and if Gordon can capture and sustain that essence over the coming months, he could rise and provide a leading presence for Newcastle, much akin to Isak over the past few years.
Woltemade is talented and will score goals across the season. Wissa will too. However, Gordon, when firing on all cylinders, offers something more dynamic and complete, inspiring his teammates while applying prolific pressure himself. Across the 2023/24 season, in all competitions, he notched 28 goal involvements.
His contribution to Harvey Barnes’ conclusive fourth goal underscores that very point. Gordon has the full package, all right, and there is every confidence he will carry this form back into the Premier League and help Howe’s side make headway, 15th in the Premier League after six matches.
But to say Gordon has been abject across the opening weeks simply wouldn’t be true. He has endured some heavy moments, no doubt about that, but has also recorded six successful duels per game, also completing 71% of his dribbles.
With a bit more refinement in the crucial moments, Gordon might finally hit the heights envisaged and become the talisman Newcastle need now that Isak has left. After all, he has been chased by Liverpool too, with the Reds considering paying £100m for the Three Lions star’s services.
There is still work to be done. Gordon hasn’t enjoyed a good start to the Premier League season, sent off against Liverpool, but also missing three big chances in front of goal and lacking the clarity and composure he is capable of producing and sustaining.
But class is permanent. This Howe knows. And Gordon, too.
The 24-year-old has shown in the Champions League that he is ready to step up to the plate now that Isak has gone and assume the responsibility as Newcastle’s talisman.
Woltemade might be a number nine with the talent to match Isak, but Gordon, when on his A-game, is Newcastle’s main man.
