Steve Bruce reveals transfer meeting with Lee Charnley

The club was this week linked with a £10.5million move for Strasbourg midfielder Ibrahima Sissoko.

Bruce, United’s head coach, had previously said it was too early to talk about the window.

The 58-year-old will sit down with Charnley, Newcastle’s managing director, and Steve Nickson, the club’s head of recruitment, next week.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s game against West Ham United at the London Stadium, Bruce said: “I spoke to Lee yesterday. We have a meeting next week with Steve Nickson, the chief scout.

“But it’s always difficult in January. If there’s somebody out there who can improve us, we’ll try to act, but, in terms of big conversations, I haven’t really had them yet.

“I know what I would like to have, but whether you get it is a different thing. If you can’t get it, you have to be patient. Bringing people in for the sake of it is not the right thing, but if you can get somebody who can improve the team, any manager would act. We’ll try to do our best.”

Newcastle spent more than £60million in the summer on Joeltinon, Allan Saint-Maximin, Emil Krafth and Jetro Willems. Andy Carroll also joined as a free agent.

That outlay was partly offset by the £30million sale of Ayoze Perez, who scored a hat-trick for Leicester CIty in their 9-0 win over Southampton last week.