Toon will transfer. Howe’s remarks from the Saudi side suggest a January rethink in this U-turn.

Toon will transfer. U-turn as Howe’s remarks from the Saudi camp suggest a change of heart in January

While Newcastle United was predicted to have a quiet January transfer window, Jonjo Shelvey’s latest injury, which may cause him to miss up to eight weeks of action, appears to change our strategy.

However, a recent statement from the Toon manager maintained we’re “ready to act” should anything change on the fitness front. Howe has generally tried to dampen expectations on the recruitment front, speculating that FFP could limit our capacity to bring in first-team recruits.

Howe stated this while we were in our warm-weather training camp in Saudi Arabia:

“I am not expecting too much business, whether incoming or outgoing, but it is football and it is January, so it’s unpredictable.

“We can’t predict what is going to happen with our own squad, in terms of fitness and availability, so we do need to be ready to act if we need to.”

Although Newcastle has performed far from poorly in the first half of the season without Shelvey, he was undoubtedly part of Howe’s plans for the coming months – with the midfielder stringing together multiple impressive performances in the second half of last campaign before picking up an injury which ruled him out until recently.

If Shelvey was to return in early March as anticipated, he would miss at least 10 fixtures between then and the window opening, including Arsenal and Manchester City away; and Liverpool at home in the Premier League. Howe’s midfield will remain weakened for future cup ties as well, with FA Cup and Carabao Cup fixtures set to fit in that time frame if we get passed Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester.

So, with Howe saying he is “ready to act” if “unpredictable” changes were to happen within his squad, it seems likely that we reinforce our midfield in the coming window. It has already been suggested that we would like to strengthen this department, with a Bruno injury leaving our midfield very bare.

Do not be shocked if we recruit someone to fill this position over the next month given that we had been associated with a number of midfielders before Shelvey’s injury, including Maximo Perrone, Andrey Santos, Jorginho, Youri Tielemans, and Moises Caicedo, to name a few.