Once a window that was earmarked as Newcastle United’s transition into a new era has become a frustrating month punctuated by high-profile transfer misses.
Eddie Howe has landed two of his targets - Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood both provide the Magpies some valuable Premier League experience in their battle against the drop, but Kylian Mbappe they are not.
Newcastle ’s first opportunity to flex their financial muscles following their takeover by a Saudi Arabian-led consortium has so far amounted to little more than frustrating Sean Dyche and Burnley.
Saturday’s win over Leeds United has brought about some much-needed optimism that even without reinforcements, they may have enough to remain a Premier League team.
But that won’t stop everyone at St James’ Park scrambling for transfers in the final throes of the January window. Here’s where they five days out from the deadline:
To follow the latest January transfer window news and rumours, as they happen, click here
Defender scramble continues
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who can Newcastle realistically sign ahead of the deadline? Join the debate here
Howe has clearly identified a new central defender as one of his top priorities, but has so far been left wanting.
Sevilla’s Diego Carlos appeared to be the Toon’s No.1 target, but after spending the majority of the month negotiating with the LaLiga club, their hopes of signing the Brazilian have finally been quashed.
Reports claim Newcastle saw two bids turned down for Carlos, who have now closed any lines of communication in the hope of keeping their player.
A move for Lille’s Sven Botman also came up short, with the Sun now reporting Brighton defender Adam Webster could come into the equation.
Signed for a club record £20million in 2019, Webster will command a high fee, having managed to get £50m for Ben White just last summer.
Finding a Lingard alternative
Like Diego Carlos, for much of this month it seemed that Jesse Lingard was destined to end up in the north East.
Lingard is said to be open to a loan move to Newcastle, with the club themselves happy to put up a loan fee to acquire his services.
However, there are now increasing concerns that Manchester United will block his move and the deal is now said to be on the brink of collapse.
Spending the month chasing a particular player and failing isn’t ideal, but Howe has spoken at length about “alternative targets” and they will now need to delve into that list.
Bruno Guimaraes certainly appears prominently on said list after The Guardian claimed Newcastle had lodged a £33.5m bid for the Lyon star.
They are hoping to steal a match on the likes of Arsenal and Juventus by getting a deal done this month and they now eagerly await a response from the French giants.
Signing Dele Alli also remains a possibility with Tottenham looking to ship out the former England international in order to fund their own late transfer spree.
Any other business...
Having already signed a right-back in Trippier and still hoping to land a centre-back, Howe could complete his rapid defensive overhaul by signing a left-back.
Mitchel Bakker from Bayer Leverkusen looked to be another on his way, only for the latest update to follow a familiar trend by saying that is now off the cards.
Fiorentina Mikola Milenkovic is also wanted, while Howe could stick with the theme of tried-and-tested Premier League stars, by bringing in Aston Villa defender Matty Targett.
There are also ambitious pursuits of Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata and Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma to be concluded, with both looking more likely targets for a summer- should they stay in the top flight.
Howe was part of a hastily drafted together transfer meeting in Jeddah earlier this week and the next week will prove how much came from that.
