Newcastle United star Alexander Isak is arguably the best centre-forward the Tyneside club has boasted in a very long time, perhaps even dating back to the days of Alan Shearer.
The £63m club-record signing was purchased last summer to spearhead the revolution under Eddie Howe’s management, and while he endured an injury-hit campaign, the Swede still impressed with ten Premier League goals from just 17 starting appearances.
It’s been a long road, but Newcastle are nearing a return to the forefront and qualified for the Champions League with a fourth-placed finish last year, ending a two-decade absence from the elite continental competition.
Isak is indeed the frontman designated with the role of goalscoring, and after continuing his fruitful performances from last season with five goals from his opening eight matches across all competitions this term, the “outstanding talent” – as said by Howe – has grown comfortably into his skin.
Shearer was the last striker to truly boast first-class credentials for the St. James’ Park side; the likes of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse were both remarkable on their day but failed to sustain their prowess with the requisite regularity.
How good was Alan Shearer?
Shearer’s the man that every Magpie aspires to be growing up, a lionized figure and to this day the club’s most prolific striker in history, having scored 206 goals from 405 matches, five more than late striker Jackie Milburn.
In fact, the 53-year-old is actually the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, with his 260 goals a towering record standing tall and proud above the profusion of attacking talent that has graced English shores over the years.
That record appeared to be in danger recently with one Harry Kane encroaching on the number – having scored 213 for Tottenham Hotspur – but the England captain and record scorer’s £100m transfer to Bayern Munich in the summer has left Shearer’s tally preserved longer still, though whether the 30-year-old returns to take the crown remains to be seen.
Shearer was signed for his boyhood club from Premier League rivals Blackburn Rovers in a world record £15m transfer in 1996, having won the 1994/95 league title for the Riversiders.
As is life, all good things come to an end and while Shearer didn’t add to his sole league title won with Blackburn on Tyneside, he established himself as one of the meanest strikers of his generation and has etched his name perpetually into the division’s folklore.
In 2004, with the one-time Southampton youth product approaching his twilight, Newcastle were eager to sign an apt heir, and thought they had found the prodigy they were craving for in Wayne Rooney, but ultimately, this particular youngster opted for a different route.
Did Newcastle almost sign Wayne Rooney?
Everyone knows the story of how Rooney burst onto the scene with Everton and scored 15 goals across two league campaigns in the embryonic stage of his career, hence earning a £30m transfer to Old Trafford at just 18, ending Newcastle’s hopes of signing a player they were desperate to get their hands on.
Speaking on the UTD Podcast, the man himself explained how it all could have been so different, with Manchester United swooping for the prodigious talent once the Toon expressed a vested interest.
Rooney said: “I couldn’t wait another year, I couldn’t stay another year at Everton, so I was prepared to go to Newcastle for that year.
“I spoke to them, we spoke about salary and what I wanted if I went there was, after a year, if Manchester United come in, you have to let me go.
“Newcastle were agreeing to that but obviously, with Man United, I went back to them and said, if you don’t do it now, I’ll go to Newcastle with a clause in place. Man United obviously didn’t want me to go there so I came here.
“It was basically whatever Newcastle paid for me, Man United would have paid a year later.”
How good was Wayne Rooney?
Rooney has been described as “truly world-class” by his former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of just how incredible this dynamic forward was.
At Manchester United, he scored 253 goals – a club record – and served as a centrepiece to a prosperous period in the prestigious outfit’s history, winning a wealth of major honours including five league titles, the Champions League and the FA Cup, and being crowned the Red Devils’ Player of the Season on four occasions.
While he failed to outscore Shearer in the Premier League, the “fantastic” team player – as he was lauded by David Moyes – was instrumental in his all-encompassing work on the pitch, truly integral in constructing fluid patterns of play, bringing the best out of his peers and providing sensational moments of magic himself.
Alan Shearer vs Wayne Rooney in the Premier League
Statistic
Alan Shearer (via premierleague.com)
Wayne Rooney (via premierleague.com)
Appearances
441
491
Goals scored
260
208
Goals assisted
64
108
Goal ratio
0.59 per game
0.42 per game
Assist ratio
0.14 per game
0.21 per game
G/A ratio
0.73 per game
0.63 per game
Titles
1
5
Golden Boot
3
0
PL POTY
1
1
PL POTM
4
5
As the graph above delineates, the respective phenoms were both among the cream of the crop and thrived through differing skill sets, while maintaining a devastating level of offensive threat.
Shearer is the all-time Premier League record holder to this day, while Rooney retired with a glittering trophy cabinet and is considered among the finest players of his generation.
And while Rooney opted to move to Man United instead of joining the fold at St. James’ Park in a role as the ostensible successor to Shearer’s esteemed position at the helm of his boyhood club, it’s hard to argue that he made the wrong decision.
Newcastle spiralled into the interminable dark days under the ownership of Mike Ashley, while England’s erstwhile record scorer enjoyed a starring role at one of the most dominant and destructive teams the English top division has ever borne witness to.
Had Sir Bobby Robson succeeded in his ambitious pursuit way back when, it really could have been so different, and while Newcastle are now on track for a spot back at the very forefront of the game, many years of hurt might never have been had Rooney laid waste to Premier League defences clad in black and white.
