Eddie Howe wants Newcastle United to get moving in the summer transfer window in swift fashion with the ideal aim for the Magpies to have a couple of new faces on board in time for pre-season training.
United signed stars like Nick Pope, Matt Targett and Sven Botman in time for pre-season last summer and Howe would ideally like another series of quick-fire arrivals. That would make for a busy June with Howe about to learn which European competition his squad will be in next season.
Howe, who had his UK head of scouting Andy Howe in the Press conference on Friday, was quizzed on recruitment and insisted that there are no unlimited funds to burn on Tyneside. But he also stated that United would need to effectively have "two XIs" at his disposal, regardless on whether they enter the Champions League or the Europa League.
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Howe was happy to send a message to his watching recruitment staff in the room on Friday morning and also added: "We haven’t felt the necessity to necessarily do that on a consistent basis because we’ve been in one competition – of course, we had the cup run.
"We have rotated to a degree, but maybe not in the numbers that we might need to next year."
If Newcastle staff needed to refer back to historical records, they'd see that the signing of just Vurnon Anita was not enough in 2012 to aid the squad in their double aim of domestic and European success. That year Newcastle only avoided the drop on the penultimate day of the season away to QPR with a narrow win.
And a quick glance to the capital shows that while West Ham have done well to reach the Europa Conference League final, they are still not mathematically safe going into the second last game. United chiefs have at least been told in advance and Howe even took the smart step of inviting co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi to the training complex for chats two weeks ago.
Vincent Kompany can't get enough of Newcastle
With Burnley assured of their Premier League place back last month, Kompany has wasted no time in taking in a series of fixtures since the Lancashire club's season ended.
Kompany was at Leeds for Newcastle's 2-2 draw and after watching Brighton demolish Arsenal a day later, he returned to watch the black and whites pull off a 4-1 win over the Seagulls up north. It is thought that Kompany is trying to get a feel for the pace and standard of the division Burnley were relegated from last term.
He may have written his name in Man City folklore as a player but he is yet to manage in the Premier League after a season in the Championship and time in Belgian football with Anderlecht.
Gateshead keen to book friendly date with Eddie Howe's Euro Mags
The famous Entertainers headed to Gateshead regularly in the 1990s to give their near neighbours a game during the Kevin Keegan era. And after securing a friendly with Sunderland, Mike Williamson's FA Trophy finalists are also thought to be eager to get a pre-season fixture on with Newcastle in front of a crowd at the International Stadium.
Such an occasion would not only boost the coffers for the Heed but also give fans a local game away from home. With a capacity of 11,800 it would make for quite a night.
