Steve Bruce addresses Matty Longstaff's contractual situation at Newcastle United

Steve Bruce hopes to strengthen his squad in this month’s window.

However, contract talks are also ongoing with a number of players, including midfielders Sean and Matty Longstaff. Isaac Hayden, Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie could also get new deals.

A new deal for 22-year-old Sean – who was a £35million target for Manchester United last summer and is under contract at St James's Park until 2022 – has been on the agenda since last March, while Matty’s contract expires at the end of the season.

Matty, 19, scored in Tuesday night’s 4-1 FA Cup win over Rochdale in front of club owner Mike Ashley, who was on Tyneside this week for transfer talks with Bruce, appointed as head coach last summer.

And Bruce, speaking ahead of this evening’s home game against Chelsea, says the club will “concentrate” on sorting deals for the pair next month.

“Once we get January done, we’ll concentrate on those,” said Bruce. “Particularly young Matty, who keeps scoring goals, and is doing as well as his brother at the moment.”

Matty, linked with AC Milan and Inter Milan, spoke about his contractual situation after, memorably, making a goalscoring Premier League debut against Man United in October.

“Obviously, I want to stay at Newcastle,” said Longstaff. “But the biggest thing for me is just to carry on playing well, and that will take care of itself.”

Meanwhile, Allan Saint-Maximin’s return to fitness has given Steve Bruce a “dilemma” ahead of Chelsea’s visit to St James’s Park today.

Bruce claimed last week that the Newcastle United winger might not be ready to return from his latest hamstring problem until the end of the month, but the 23-year-old was yesterday added to the squad for this evening’s televised Premier League home game.

“We’ve a few coming back, which is good, particularly Allan,” said Bruce. “He’s trained the last two weeks, and we hope he’s going to be OK.”

Asked if Saint-Maximin was fit enough to start, Bruce said: “That's my dilemma.”