One Newcastle player in particular caught the eye of Stan Collymore in the Toon’s 3-2 victory over Birmingham City in the FA Cup.
Eddie Howe’s side secured progression into the fifth round in a proper cup tie on Saturday evening. The League One side took a lead inside the first minute, but we responded with two goals before Tomoki Iwata’s screamer pulled it back to 2-2.
Callum Wilson and Joe Willock were both on the scoresheet, with the latter netting the second half winner, but it was neither of those that got the credit of former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest forward Collymore.
Collymore watched on as Will Osula grabbed a pair of first half assists in FA Cup action over the weekend, publicly singling out the Dane for praise.
The former Reds star thinks the 6ft 4′ Dane has ‘every basic attribute’ a striker needs and is at the perfect place to develop at Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.
In a post on X as he watched Saturday night’s game, he said: ‘Like Newcastle’s Osula a lot. Remains to be seen whether he’ll be top flight or not but at 21 he’s got every basic attribute a striker needs.’
’Physical, can turn and drive towards goal, good first touch, happy to play facing or back to goal, willing to run in behind and take shots on. At the right club to develop too.’
It was an eye-catching display from the big man, who showed his pace from the right, quick footwork, an impressive first touch and physicality as he drew fouls against a physical Birmingham side who didn’t know how to handle him.
Howe is the perfect man to oversee the development of Osula. As proven already with the likes of Jacob Murphy, Joelinton and Lewis Hall, the Mag manager knows how to get the best out of individuals.
Osula has been used sparingly thus far in his time with Newcastle, limited mainly to minutes in cup competitions, but his performances against both Birmingham and Bromley may see Howe put an increasing amount of faith in the attacker in league action.
Osula’s pair of assists on Saturday bring his career record in the FA Cup to an impressive 10 goal contributions in just six starts over the last two-and-a-half years.
His goal against Bromley in January added to the six he scored across spells with Sheffield United and Derby County, also bagging one assist in his time with the Rams in a 5-0 victory over Torquay.
Not the finished article yet with a few rough edges still to be smoothed out, the 21-year-old has plenty of raw attributes and natural ability that Howe can hone and develop in an exciting young talent.
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