Lots is going on at Newcastle at the moment, lots which, in the long run, could mean far more than a few signings before the end of January – but that doesn’t mean the club are not trying to find some more players.
According to reports in The Shields Gazette, the club are still wanting to add both a striker and left-back to the ranks to ensure that Steve Bruce’s squad is as strong as it can be heading into the final months of the season.
Whether Bruce wants long-term or short-term solutions is currently unknown, however, with Paul Dummett and Jetro Willems both suffering season-ending injuries, cover at left-back is required greatly.
In terms of strikers, there’s no doubt that the club want someone who is more prolific in the final third. Joelinton has hardly had it easy with the number of chances the club make, however, one goal from 24 league games is simply not a big enough return for £40m.
So far this season, Joelinton has only actually missed six big chances, which is the joint 20th highest in the division, which actually isn’t that atrocious. It’s more worrying that from 24 games, he is basically only getting a big chance every four or so matches, which is more to do with Bruce’s attritional tactics.
Nevertheless, this shows that he clearly isn’t getting into goalscoring opportunities enough – despite the negative tactics – and he’s also not taking the chances when given to him.
Does the human rights record of Saudi Arabia bother you in terms of this takeover?
Yes, we don't want our club involved in that
Not sure
No - we deserve a big money takeover and it's not our fault
It does, but other clubs face the same problem
The same report suggests that despite reports, the club are in fact not interested in Emmanuel Adebayor, which might come as a relief to some fans.
At left-back, Danny Rose seems the preferred choice, but still that seems a long way from being completed.
It’s quite hard to tell exactly what is going on with transfers at this moment due to the fact that the takeover is obviously the most pressing issue within the media.
Reports suggest that the discussions are at a ‘critical’ stage, and with this takeover potentially being defining for the club for at least the next decade or so, you can’t really blame the club if they feel as if there are bigger fish to fry at the moment.
Despite this, transfers are still needed to be made – and you can only imagine the uproar if neither positions are replenished and the takeover stalls.