Newcastle United journalist Chris Waugh has been sharing some details on some potential transfer business the club could do in the near future.
This comes after Waugh recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Tyneside club.
During the podcast, Waugh was asked if the behind-the-scenes activity at the club such as Mike Ashley’s current court case against the Premier League could have an impact on the club’s ability to spend money on players or not.
In response, Waugh had this to say on the matter.
He said: “That remains the concern. Steve Bruce, I know privately, is trying to push for assurances that he can strengthen because he did want a centre-back in the summer as David [Ornstein] himself reported, they tried to get Rob Holding on loan from Arsenal, that was pretty much agreed until Arsenal pulled the plug.
“He still wants a centre-back, he would like a central midfielder, they really lack dynamism in the middle of the park, and so the fact that they’ve still got two domestic loans I think is important, because I think regardless of what happens with the ownership, they will push to use them.
“And even if Mike Ashley doesn’t release funds, because in the summer, the summer transfer budget was significantly reduced £30-40 million down because of the pandemic, I think that they will look to bring in at least one or two bodies on loan, but permanent signings may have to wait a little bit longer.”
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TIF Thoughts on Chris Waugh’s comments on potential Newcastle transfers…
Seeing as Newcastle spent a total of £34.88 million on bringing in Callum Wilson and Jamal Lewis in the previous summer transfer window with Ashley in charge after their proposed £300 million Saudi-led takeover fell through in July, this shows that Ashley has not been reluctant to splash his cash on transfers for the club.
As well as Wilson and Lewis, Newcastle also managed to sign Jeff Hendrick, Mark Gillespie and Ryan Fraser on free transfers, which the club may have to look for once again if the transfer funds are unavailable as Waugh suggested in the podcast.
Either way, in our view, with Newcastle currently sitting in 13th place in the Premier League table having won four, drawn two and lost four of their first 10 league games of the season, the Toon should look to try and strengthen their squad in any way they can so they can get a more consistent run of positive results under their belt.