Steve Bruce hints at more transfer activity at Newcastle United

The club, which is in limbo as the Premier League consider a proposed £300million takeover, has signed goalkeeper Mark Gillespie, who was a free agent after leaving Motherwell this summer.

Gillespie, 28, will replace Rob Elliot, released last week, at St James’s Park.

The club had drawn up a list of targets before the Premier League was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The financial implications of the virus will be felt for many years to come in football, though a change in ownership could put United in an advantageous position.

“Whatever business you are in, the last three or four months have been difficult,” said head coach Bruce. “We’ll have to measure the impact of what it is, and what we’ve got. And, yes, be active to see if we can improve the squad.

“It’s going to be vitally important moving forward, because then that’s the club moving forward again.

“Can we go and find two or three better players? We’ve got one or two things up our sleeve already – let’s see when the window opens and see where we are at.”

Bruce says the contractual housekeeping which has seen Andy Carroll and Javier Manquillo sign new deals is ongoing, despite the takeover uncertainty.

“We've got two of the players signed for next season, and a little bit more in Manquillo's case,” said Bruce.

“We're anxiously hoping that we can get young Matty (Longstaff) done so in that respect. It's been business as usual.

“The big teams have been affected by what's happened in the last three or four months. Then, of course, we're going to have to take stock, see what we've got and see what we can do.

“Management’s about forward planning, and that's why I said a week ago we need now for the decision to be made, because we need the club to move forward.

“As I've said many times, whatever's the best for the club is fine by me, so let's hope there's a decision for everyone. It's vitally important that we don't make it an excuse.”

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