Seydou Doumbia may be Newcastle striking target

Newcastle United have been goal shy this season, if you want to be generous.  As a consequence, it was widely thought that the club would actively seek a striker in the January window.  Of course, they then went out and bought 2 central midfielders and a winger.  In a somewhat surprising development, however, it does seem that Steve McClaren and Lee Charnley are set to address another need in the squad if reports from Italy are to be believed.

Now, before we go much further into these reports, it must be done with a standard CHN disclaimer that this is originating from Sky Sports Italia who have a... well... less than stellar record with regards to reporting transfers.  So, grain of salt and whatnot, but HEY!  We're linked with a striker!  So what is a Seydou Doumbia?

Seydou Doumbia is an Ivory Coast international who made his name in the Russian Premier League with CSKA Moscow.  His numbers in Russia are certainly very glossy having scored a total of 95 goals and tallying 42 assists over the course of 150 total appearances (league, domestic cups, and Champions League) which ultimately earned him a move to Roma for the 2014-15 season.  He performed... significantly below the numbers that he had achieved in the Russian League (2 goals in 14 appearances) and was subsequently loaned back to CSKA for the first half of the 15/16 season where he largely picked up where he had left off – creating 10 goals (5/5) in 14 appearances – before his loan ended.  When you're trying to find out what kind of player Doumbia is, you see "pace" attached to him a whole lot, but let's check the film:

We can tell from this video that he is extraordinarily good at the following:

• making a meal of relatively innocuous challenges
• holding his head
• not dancing.  He's pretty much a crap dancer.
• subdued celebrations with teammates

Youtube scouting is about as useful as paying attention to Sky Italia rumors, however, but there you have it, for what it's worth.  This could be the striker you're looking for (/jedi wave).  Or not.