Keith Wyness: Newcastle ready to agree January signings after £45m development
Newcastle will be active in the January transfer window after Eddie Howe was handed a financial boost.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who thinks defensive reinforcements could arrive at St James’ Park.
Newcastle’s owners have injected £45million into the club ahead of the window, with the Toon languishing in mid-table in the Premier League.
Howe has faced increased scrutiny at Newcastle this season for their underwhelming campaign so far.
‘Unrest’ at Newcastle as January window approaches
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – does not think that Howe will add to his attack in January.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness believes Howe needs to address the goalkeeping situation at the club.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I think they’re definitely going to have to do something to strengthen. The run before Tuesday’s win has not been great recently for Eddie Howe. Losing the local derby is going to be something that is going to be causing unrest up on Tyneside. I know that for a fact.
“And certainly, I think they’re going to have to do something. Now, where they’re going to strengthen is going to be difficult to see. [Nick] Woltemade, you know, he’s had a good start. He’s been better than a lot of people thought he would, for sure. So, you know, Anthony Gordon has started to fire again. Is there a real need to strengthen at striker?
“It seems to still be the defence that is still the area that they’re letting themselves down. So I would expect to see some sort of move towards strengthening the defence. That’s the area, and they keep on talking about goalkeepers for some reason.
“They’ve got to resolve that in some way and get consistency there because that’s crucial for that defence to have that regular goalkeeping slot. A few areas that they could be looking at, but I do expect Newcastle to be active in January certainly.”
Eddie Howe successor named
Howe could be replaced by Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola at Newcastle, should the 48-year-old depart Tyneside this season.
Iraola is now the favourite if the Newcastle position was to become vacant, with the Spaniard having impressed with Bournemouth.
His contract with the Cherries expires at the end of the season, having first joined the club from Rayo Vallecano in 2023.