Steve Bruce issues Newcastle United transfer update

Newcastle United fans are hoping to see more arrivals next month following the summer signings of Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser, Jamal Lewis and Mark Gillespie.

Bruce, however, must move players out – DeAndre Yedlin, Henri Saivet and Achraf Lazaar were made available in the summer – and the club’s head coach doesn’t expect much business to be done by Premier League clubs given the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think it will be a difficult month to do anything,” said Bruce, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Fulham.

“When I speak to most of the managers, we’re all thinking the same. January’s always a difficult month to do business in. It’s very rare you get to a position where you get what you really want in January."

Bruce signed three players – Nabil Bentaleb, Valentino Lazaro and Danny Rose – on loan last January.

“It was the same last January – we brought two or three loan players in that certainly helped us, but we kept our money back and that allowed us to go and get Wilson, for example,” said Bruce.

“Unless there’s something there jumping out at us that we think can really drastically improve us, which you very rarely get in January, then I’ll be like most other managers and most other clubs, where I think it’ll be very, very quiet.

"I could arguably see it being the quietest it’s ever been because of the problems that everybody’s having, and the difficulties that everybody’s having to live through.”

Newcastle are considering a move for Eintracht Frankfurt defender Jetro Willems, who has recovered from the knee injury which cut short his loan at St James’s Park last season.

Asked if the club was monitoring players in the final year of their deals ahead of next summer, Bruce said: “It has been very difficult because my scouts can't get to games.

"We can watch the opposition but, as you can imagine, it's very difficult.

"But, make no mistake, we're monitoring Bosmans. We monitor the situation all the time, and that will always be the case.”

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