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Going by the reports in Northern Echo, the Newcastle United board are ready to elevate their interest in OGC Nice forward Evann Guessand.
After extensive scouting over the past months, the scouting team has compiled a series of dossiers on Guessand and has analyzed his successful season-long loan spell in the Swiss SFL with Lausanne-Sport this term, where he has scored 7 goals and laid 4 assists in 31 appearances he made this campaign.
These stats don’t give a fair reflection as he has only started 22 games and having 11 goal contributions in 22.2 <90s>(total minutes played divided by 90) is a fairly decent output for a 19-year-old kid.
He is one of the six Nice players who have been out on loan at their sister club Lausanne this season.
It’s been an excellent acquisition for the Swiss mid-table club who are 7 points away from the 2nd placed Basel, Guessand has been crucial to them as he’s their top scorer and top creator.
The 19-year-old has grabbed the headlines since scoring a scorpion kick and has drawn comparisons to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for his technical quality on the ball.
He is a fast, powerful, pacy, and imposing 6ft striker and observed to boast a high technical ability and finishing quality.
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He’s tricky, intelligent, agile, and can shrug off defenders with strength. He is a good volume shooter at a very young age as he’s taking 3 shots per 90 of which 47.1% are on target, to compare Wilson is only taking 1.9 shots per game. (Shots per 90 is understood to be an excellent metric to judge the quality of a striker)
He is still a very raw talent but has elements to his game that can excite the fans as he’s an excellent creator and dribbler. He needs to improve his output and his shot conversions into goals.
Nice consider French Ligue 2 is the next step forward for the Corsica-born prospect but with heavy rumors linking him to a bigger move in England, Guessand may soon have a chance to shine on the biggest stage.
The CHN Newcastle United Verdict:-
After watching a couple of Lausanne-Sport games I can see real potential in the kid. Newcastle squad requires a complete makeover as our center-backs and strikers roster is filled with aged players and in need of freshness.
Guessand is an excellent player with huge potential and it’s sensible to add him to our ranks. With Andy Carroll’s contract ending this summer, the Magpies have a chance to replace him with a real prospect.
To make things easier for Newcastle there are reports that the player is holding out to extend his stay at Nice due to surmounting interest from Big clubs. His current deal is expiring this summer, so there’s a possibility that Magpies can get him for a Bosman with only development compensation to be paid to Nice.
Dwight Gayle and Wilson are both injury-prone strikers, so to have a young striker as their backup will do us no harm.
There's an element of risk involved here as he's a bit of an unknown quantity but it will just take a clip for you to recognise his potential and what an exciting prospect he could be in future.
There are good chances that this transfer will work out because the last time we recruited from Nice, the player turned out to be a gem. (Allan Saint-Maximin)
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