Eddie Howe 'delighted' as Newcastle United January striker transfer explained

And it happens to be one of their former players.

Chris Wood joined the Magpies from Burnley for £20million in January 2022 but departed for Forest a year later after helping United retain their Premier League status before mounting a top four charge.

While being credited a major part in Newcastle’s transformation, Wood, sold to Forest for around £15m, found goals hard to come by, finding the net just five times in 39 appearances.

Compare that to his form at Forest however, and Wood has scored 22 goals since the start of last season. That, of course, includes the hat-trick he scored at St James’ Park on Boxing Day.

The New Zealander will be hoping to score for the fifth consecutive games this weekend.

Asked about Wood’s goal-scoring form, Howe said: “Delighted for Chris on a personal level. It was never lost how well he played for us, he did everything but score in terms of his positive performances.

“He was so important in our efforts to stay in the league, especially in that first season he joined. The work that he did and the unseen things like bringing other players into play. I think if you ask his teammates who played with him that season I think they’ll say he was one of the reasons why we changed our position into the league and was able to build consistently.

“But he just didn’t get the goals that elevated his performances or probably got the wider world seeing the transformation he played in our team. He was very selfless, very team orientated and that’s why now, on a personal level for him, he is getting the individual accolades that his goals are bringing him.

“I’m delighted for him personally, a great lad with a great attitude. I think he had a really good time with us. Really pleased to see a player go on and do well.”

Howe was reluctant to let Wood leave but respected the player’s wishes to play regular first-team football. At Newcastle, the 32-year-old faced competition from Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson.

The United boss added: “We were really thinking of Chris. We had obviously Alex [Isak], Callum [Wilson] and Chris - three experienced strikers that would all want to play and start games, and Chris felt that he wanted that opportunity to play week in week out so we reluctantly agreed to that.

“But as I said, I don’t think there was any ill feeling, it was all with each other’s blessing. You have to sell players and trade in the modern environment.”