Eddie Howe issues Newcastle United transfer update

Botman made his first appearance in this afternoon’s 3-0 win over 1860 Munich at the Saalfelden Arena in Austria.

The £35million defender, the club’s third summer signing, came off the bench at the break, and Howe was asked after the game is the club was close to another transfer breakthrough.

“There’s nothing to report, and we’re still in the process of working very hard behind the scenes to try and improve the squad,” said United’s head coach.

“That work is continuing every day, even from here. We are keen to add strength to certain areas of the team. It remains to be seen whether we can get a deal done. It’s a difficult window, a difficult market, high prices and very limited availability. I’m sure we can hopefully a land a player who can make a difference to us."

The club has also signed Nick Pope – who also made his debut against 1860 – and former loanee Matt Targett this summer.

“Really pleased with the business we have done so far,” said Howe. “Getting Matt back was a priority, because he did so well for us last year. He's an outstanding player, and an outstanding person, and we have enjoyed working with him.

"Nick’s come in, and there’s real competition for the goalkeeping place, and he did very well today, so I'm pleased with that, and Sven’s someone we chased for a long time. We have definitely improved the group. But I do feel we have more work to do.”

Meanwhile, Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes scored second-half goals against 1860.

"The first-half was difficult,” said Howe. “We wanted high tempo, a lot of running, a lot of transition work, but it wasn’t there in the first half.

“We didn’t really get what we wanted, but we didn’t really help ourselves in that. I thought we were lethargic, but we have worked the players very hard this week.“They’ve been tested in a lot of different ways, so we knew we were coming into the game fatigued – and that showed during the first period.”