Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce is set to have a limited budget in January and may focus his attentions on bringing in players on loan, with the Magpies being impacted by two key issues.
His team have endured a slump in form over the last few weeks and suffered back-to-back defeats without scoring in the absence of the injured Callum Wilson. That has generated some pressure on Bruce, with Newcastle’s style of play yielding the fewest attempts on goal of any Premier League team so far this season. However, he still retains the backing of Mike Ashley, per The Telegraph.
It had previously been reported that the Magpies would have funds available to add to the squad in the forthcoming window, with Ashley continuing business as usual amid all of the takeover speculation, per Chronicle Live. The left-back position has been reported as being a priority.
However, it has now emerged that the ongoing financial implications of the global pandemic and the Magpies’ legal challenge with the Premier League over the takeover saga has caused Ashley to reassess the approach for January. That means Bruce is likely to only have funds to add short-term loans to his squad, per The Northern Echo.
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This latest update may be frustrating for Bruce in the sense that he will no longer be able to consider going out and adding permanent additions to his squad. However, he will still have all of his Premier League loan spots available to him after missing out on both Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the summer window.
There are some players who could come into the squad on loan and provide some quality competition for places, with Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori thought to be an option available to them. That means that the Magpies should still be able to strengthen their squad in the short-term.
However, this paints a picture of how vital it is that the club is eventually taken over, with little chance of Newcastle improving with short-term solutions. Whilst the off-field issues are understandable, there is only so much longer the club can continue to conserve funds and maintain a frugal approach before they run into trouble.
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