Chelsea striker set for new contract, wage rise, loan move to Newcastle after meeting Benítez — report

More striker news than you can shake a stick at these days, so let’s add a bit more to them with rumors from up north, where Newcastle United are looking to revamp their attack ahead of their return to the Premier League. Dwight Gayle, who’s not even really a striker in the classic sense, is the only one who seems certain to stay, with both Aleksandar Mitrović and Daryl Murphy likely to leave before the summer’s end.

Coming in could be one or two new faces, one of whom is likely to be none other than Tammy Abraham, who’s currently busy preparing for the U21 European Championships — so he better figure all this out quickly before that tournament starts next week (England play in the opener on the 16th). Tammy, as we know, had a very impressive year on loan at Bristol City in the Championship and now is ready for the next big test: Premier League football. According to the Chronicle, that will indeed be at St James’ Park.

Tammy had (has?) a choice between Newcastle and also newly promoted Brighton, but is ready to complete the deal with the Magpies “in the coming days”, adds the report. Prior to signing the loan contract, Tammy is also set for a new Chelsea contract and associated wage rise (£45,000 per week, says the Chronicle). Playing a part in Tammy’s decision was apparently a personal meeting with Magpies boss Rafa Benítez, who retains a good relationship with the Chelsea board and handled Christian Atsu well last season before converting his loan to a permanent move.

As mentioned before, either Newcastle or Brighton would be good choices for Abraham’s next step and next test. Loan moves are never easy and no one can tell the future with unerring certainty, but conditions at either club should be conducive to the teenager making his mark and scoring a fair few goals at the top level before hopefully returning to a Chelsea first-team role next summer.