Steve Bruce will be limited to loan signings in January, with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley keen to keep his powder dry as a period of unprecedented financial uncertainty shows no signs of abating, according to the Northern Echo.
If you ask many Newcastle supporters, with dismal defeats to Chelsea and Southampton fresh in the mind, the winter window cannot come soon enough.
But, if they were hoping to see seeing a dynamic, box-to-box midfielder, a commanding central defender or a penalty-box predator arrive midway through another mediocre season, the Tyneside faithful may be disappointed.
The Echo reports that, with Ashley feeling the impact of an ongoing financial crisis and with takeover talks still ongoing, the perennially under-pressure Bruce will, for the second year in a row, have to make do with short-term quick fixes.
Newcastle have been linked with Napoli striker Arkadiusz Milik, Austria international play-maker Raphael Holzhauser and the £40 million-rated Sporting Lisbon wonder-kid Nuno Mendes.
It seems unlikely that any of the aforementioned trio will arrive before the February deadline, however, even if Milik is excepted to be available for a cut-price fee with his contract expiring next summer.
It remains to be seen what Ashley’s stance means for Newcastle’s attempts to bring Jetro Willems back to St James’ Park.
Like Milik, the former fan favourite is due to become a free agent in July. Eintracht Frankfurt will not stand in his way if Newcastle come calling, but will Bruce be forced to wait until Willems’ contract runs out at the end of the season?
Newcastle signed Valentino Lazaro, Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose on loan in January 2020, but none of the trio made a sustained impact in the north east.
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