"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
John Wooden
Burnley number nine striker Chris Wood was tonight heading up to Newcastle for a medical after The Magpies exploited a release clause in the New Zealand Vice-Captain's contract that will make him Eddie Howe's second signing of the season for £25M to immediately bolster Newcastle's chances of survival starting against Watford at St James' Park on Saturday.
Wood, 30, is currently playing his fifth season of Premier League football with Burnley, whose manager Sean Dyche is believed to be furious at the sale of one of his stalwart players, and has scored 49 top flight goals in 127 games for The Clarets after signing from Leeds in 2017.
Wood cut a relaxed figure when he revealed just three weeks ago that Alan Shearer is his all-time Premier League striking hero along with Didier Drogba in a refreshingly honest interview that shows him to be a down-to-earth and knowledgeable footballer who is doing his UEFA Coaching badge at present:
Its a deal that will significantly weaken Burnley, one of Newcastle's direct relegation rivals at the foot of The Premier League, and his goalscoring record - he has scored at least 10 goals every Premier League season in the last four - compares favourably with bigger name strikers like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Gabriel Jesus, Alexander Lacazette and Divock Origi, a striker Newcastle have been linked with in the January window.
At 6ft 3 in, one of his major strengths is clearly his aerial ability and he leads The Premier League in Aerial Duels won since the 2019/20 season and headers on target so expect him to be on the end of fellow new signing Kieran Trippier's expert crosses and set-piece deliveries as Howe's Magpies add a direct edge to their game.
This towering set-piece threat is something that Newcastle have been on the receiving end of with Wood scoring the winner for Burnley at Turf Moor from a corner kick in December 2019 that proved the crucial goal in a 1-0 Burnley win.
Yet he's not just a target man and the old cliche 'good feet for a big man' definitely applies to Wood as he demonstrated when he cracked a first half hat-trick past Wolves last year to take his tally for the season into double figures again:
It was a goal that took Wood's total past the 10 goal mark for the fourth consecutive season and placed him among elite company in The Premier League with players who have achieved the same in teams who create far more chances than Burnley do:
Kiwi Wood is also a prolific goal-scorer for New Zealand on the international stage with a highly impressive scoring record of 27 goals in his 50 Caps so far which shows he can adapt to different teams, styles and stages and lead a country as Captain and role model so he will be well-prepared to lead The Geordie Nation into battle at the weekend.
Wood will certainly add much-needed presence to the Newcastle attack especially in the wake of Callum Wilson's injury absence for eight weeks and 50,000 Newcastle fans are desperate to see him get off to a goalscoring start on Saturday at St James' Park and seal that second win of the season against fellow relegation-strugglers Watford.
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