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Eddie Howe is presented with a conundrum of what to do with Callum Wilson in the 2024/25 season.

The Newcastle United number nine is still an incredibly prolific goalscorer with fantastic finishing abilities, but his injury record places stress on the team.

He is also competing for a spot with Alexander Isak, who is on the back of the best season of his career. Isak has been called ‘world class’, and netted 25 goals last season. It is clear who will be leading the line going forwards for Newcastle United, and it is not Wilson.

The 32-year-old’s Toon career is very much at a crossroads. Eddie Howe would like to keep Wilson, but there are more reasons to sell him.

The Newcastle hierarchy believe it is time to sell Wilson, who is in the final year of his contract. And given his injuries, handing him a fresh deal would not be wise.

Callum Wilson’s attacking data is phenomenal

Callum Wilson can be considered part of the history of Newcastle United. His 47 goals make him the club’s second highest scoring player in the Premier League and 30th all time for the club.

When he plays, his record is incredible. Last season his output was phenomenal with 0.82 goals per 90, which was in the top 7% of Europe. His shooting is deadly with his ability to hit the target in the top 5% of Europe and he regularly overperforms his xG as well, showing he can turn half chances into goals. 

He is a delight to watch when he is on the pitch and is one of the best finishers in the Premier League.

Callum Wilson’s injury record at Newcastle is shocking

Since joining the club in the summer of 2020 for £20million, Wilson has made a huge impact on the pitch, but his playing time has been limited.

Injuries have hit him so often that he has averaged a very small amount of time on the pitch. In the Premier League across these four seasons he has averaged just 17.6 (90s) played, less than half availability for each campaign.

His best season for availability was his first at the club with 23.2 (90s) played. This has been a huge problem for the side as for vast swathes of the season he has been out of the side and the team have struggled to fill the holes.

Examining the number of injuries, and the types, offers worries that with his advanced age the situation is unlikely to improve.

In the four seasons he has had a humongous 473 days lost to injuries and 13 total injuries. This includes:

-8 Hamstring Injuries

-2 Calf Injuries

-1 Chest Injury

Included in this time loss data are two illnesses, plus at the moment he currently has a back issue. Wilson is now at risk of missing the first game of the season, while Newcastle are stepping up their search for a striker.

The constant soft tissue injuries, mainly to the hamstring, shows that he has an issue and the recurrence shows that the weaknesses have not been solved.

Hamstrings are the most common injury in football and each occurrence of it makes a recurrence even more likely. Everything points to issues continuing and getting worse as he gets into the twilight of his career.

Competing with Alexander Isak

The other problem going forward is that Wilson wants to be the main striker at the club, but Alexander Isak is the future of Newcastle United and has proven he already has the credentials to be the first choice. 

In almost every metric the younger striker outperforms Wilson and, still only aged 24, Isak has still yet to reach his physical peak.

Wilson, on the other hand, is past his peak and will see a decline in output which may be exacerbated by the constant injuries.

Newcastle are lucky that they already have the best possible replacement for Callum Wilson at the club and so it is up to the choice of the manager and the hierarchy of the team as to how best to handle the future of the English forward.

It is sensible to have backup to Isak and make sure attention is given to cultivate his skillset. But Callum Wilson is unlikely to be happy to only be a bit part player and be second choice.

Sensible for Newcastle to say goodbye to Wilson

With one year left on his contract, Callum Wilson will be unable to command a large fee, but it would be better than him leaving the club with no value whatsoever in the summer of 2025. The club can then invest in someone who can deputise as backup to Alexander Isak, or maybe a striker of a different mould to add a bit of tactical fluidity and a “Plan B” to the system.

Wilson has been an incredible servant, but with the financial restraints on the club and the limited spending abilities, a small transfer fee and freeing up wages could be a bigger boost to the club than keeping hold of a player who had only the equivalent of 11 games last season. 

We saw how injuries affected Newcastle last season and with the team having high aspirations to be back in the Champions League again, squad resources must be managed carefully. Wilson, unfortunately, seems to be more of a cost to the team now.

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