Chris Wood is unlikely to join Everton in January due to injury concerns at his current club, according to journalist Dean Jones.
Jones claimed that Wood will seemingly stay put due to his teammates’ injury problems, with the 31-year-old filling the void in their absence.
Wood was previously thought to be a spare part at St James’ Park only 12 months after his £25m move to the north-east last January.
The 6 foot 3 striker only managed two goals in 15 starts at the end of last season and was subsequently pushed out of the side by the arrival of Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson’s goalscoring form.
But Jones has told This Is Futbol that due to the injury concerns to both Magpies’ forwards, it’s highly unlikely Wood will now leave despite Everton being an interested party.
He said: “Chris Wood, I’m sure they’d be interested in; at the moment, Newcastle just aren’t going to do it.
“I mean, you’ve got Callum Wilson missing the restart through illness, which has given him a chance, and at the same time, Isak doesn’t seem too convincing in terms of the number of games he’s been able to play so far since coming in.
“So it’s not actually looking at the moment like Chris Wood is even going to become available because Newcastle need that depth and haven’t come close at the moment to signing anybody else in that position.”
TIF Thoughts on Jones’ comments…
Wood would’ve been an ideal signing for Everton with the New Zealand international a reliable Premier League goalscorer, bagging double figures in every season at Burnley and racking up 54 top-flight goals so far in his career.
That, along with Dominic Calvert-Lewin playing only seven games this season through injury and Neal Maupay only netting one league goal all season, arguably makes a striker of Wood’s ilk a necessity for Everton to source this month.
Indeed, the Toffees are the joint third-lowest goalscorers in the Premier League, with only 13 goals in 17 games.
A move for Wood may open up at the end of the window if the Toon splash the cash on another forward, but Frank Lampard can’t wait around with the Toffees needing more firepower urgently.