Eddie Howe spoke to the media this morning ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park for the Sky Sports Live evening kick-off on Saturday against Crystal Palace – Kick-off is at 5:30pm.
The story of the week for Newcastle is of course the departure of New Zealand international striker, Chris Wood who is Nottingham Forest-bound subject to completing a medical. The deal is an initial loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy for £15m subject to certain criteria being met.
Eddie Howe was asked several questions about Wood’s departure and what that means for Newcastle’s transfer strategy this January.
Speaking of how quickly the deal moved, Howe said: “Three or four days ago it wasn’t on my horizon. Losing a player that we’ve used so much isn’t something we’d want to do. But you have to understand January can be very unpredictable and things happen that you don’t expect. You have to be able to react.”
With regards to whether they have a replacement lined up, which I had suspected to be the case, it seems aren’t that advanced. When Howe was asked about replacing Wood, he said this: “Hopefully. We’re planning to replace him. Certainly from my side there is no thought of letting a player go and not replacing him. But there’s no guarantees.
“I don’t think we will replace Chris with another Chris if that makes sense. His type of player I don’t necessarily think is in the market…it’s got to be the right player. That’s always so important.”