Who is Norman Bassette? The Coventry City star wanted by Newcastle United | OneFootball

Football League World takes an in-depth look at Coventry City's Norman Bassette, who is reportedly being tracked by Newcastle United

Despite only signing for Coventry City in August of this year, young striker Norman Bassette has already earned interest elsewhere and is being courted by Newcastle United.

That’s according to a recent update from the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope, who reported on Friday afternoon that Newcastle have recently watched Bassette in action against both Middlesbrough and Sunderland, with Eddie Howe’s side said to be “keeping close tabs” on the hotshot.

But who is the Coventry striker wanted by Newcastle and tipped as the next Viktor Gyokeres? We take a look here…

Norman Bassette’s career so far

The 20-year-old was born and raised in Belgium but made his breakthrough in neighbouring France with SM Caen, whom he joined in the summer of 2020.

Bassette made his professional debut one year after joining Caen as he appeared as an 85th minute substitute during a 2-1 home defeat to Pau FC in September 2021.

He opened his professional account by scoring a 95th minute winner to inspire a 2-1 victory over Grenoble in February 2023, but the young forward generally found regular opportunities hard to come by with Caen.

In a bid to gain regular match minutes, Bassette returned to Belgium by signing on loan with KV Mechelen, with whom he impressed enough to earn a permanent move to Coventry.

Although Bassette played just 928 minutes of football across 22 matches, the majority of which came from the bench, he still managed to score on five occasions, equating to a return of 0.48 goals per 90 minutes.

Raw but promising, Coventry decided to gamble on Bassette’s potential by acquiring him permanently for a reported fee of £2.5 million back in the summer, with the forward penning a four-year contract at the CBS Arena.

Even though Bassette has not yet been prolific for the Sky Blues, he remains a popular figure among supporters and his potential appears to be in little doubt. The Belgium youth international, who was called up to the senior squad and made his debut against Israel in the last international break, scored his first and only goal to date for Coventry in a dramatic 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield United on November 23.

Bassette has started just five matches so far in the 2024/25 campaign but will be hoping for an increased role under new head coach Frank Lampard, who entrusted him with leading the line in his first match against Cardiff City at the CBS Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Why Newcastle United are interested in Coventry City’s Norman Bassette

Bassette clearly has a lot of raw potential, and Newcastle will undoubtedly have been alerted to the parallels between him and Gyokeres.

The Swede, of course, blossomed into a star at Coventry but truly took off after joining Sporting CP in the summer of 2023, where he has since established his reputation as one of the most potent centre-forwards on the planet.

It’s likely that a range of Premier League clubs will have since regretted failing to get a deal over the line for Gyokeres at Coventry when his stock and value was somewhat lower, so they won’t want to miss the boat once again with a player who has been linked to the 26-year-old.

A direct channel-running striker with a similar frame to Gyokeres, Bassette’s physical attributes are malleable and extremely promising. He’s a real livewire who is capable at getting in behind and leading the press out possession, while his link-up qualities are also encouraging despite his relative lack of experience.

At present, you do feel as though Bassette may need to improve his record in front of goal if he is to demand a significant fee. The Belgian frontman is currently sitting on a return of just seven professional goals from 49 matches, although the majority of those appearances have come from the bench and he’ll face a more accurate acid test if and when Lampard deems him good enough to be a consistent starter.

Increasing the goal return is the task for Bassette now, but he’s extremely promising beneath the face value numbers and, given Coventry’s track record for producing marksmen, it’s little wonder the likes of Newcastle are looking closely.