It’s been reported on several occasions this summer that Steve Bruce’s budget was around £35m.
With us still having a fair bit of deadwood on our books, several fringe men to move on and Bruce spending the vast majority of his alleged £35m transfer kitty on Wilson, Lewis and a few free agents, it’s fair to assume we’ll be looking to utilise the loan market in the final SIX days of the transfer window.
With TWO domestic loan deals still available to us, our best route could be to look at some squad players or talented youngsters from top 8 sides.
Here’s a look at some – from the exciting to the relatively uninspiring – who could become available over the final few days of the window:
- Divock Origi (Liverpool – ST / LW)
- Harry Wilson (Liverpool – RW)
- Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool – RW)
- Demarai Gray (Leicester – LW / RW)
- Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester – ST)
- Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea – CB)
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea – CAM)
- Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal – ST)
- Callum Chambers (Arsenal – CB)
- Juan Foyth (Tottenham – CB / RB)
- Alex Tuanzebe (Man Utd – CB / RB)
- Fosu-Mensah (Man Utd – RB / CB / CDM)
- Cenk Tosun (Everton – ST)
- Yannick Bolasie (Everton – LM)
- Tom Davies (Everton – CM)
Rob Holding looked set to sign on loan from Arsenal at some point, however Mike Arteta’s U-turn means he looks set to stay in North London instead.
With this leaving us looking for a new centre-back, it would be no surprise to see the likes of Tomori, Chambers, Foyth or Tuanzebe linked with possible moves to St James’ Park in the coming weeks.
In midfield, news that Ruben Loftus-Cheek could be loaned out may give Bruce food for thought, while Divock Origi would be a brilliant signing up top – although any deal would surely need to include an obligation to buy next summer?
Elsewhere there’s Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah, Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Everton’s Cenk Tosun – a striker we were tipped to sign for £15-20m during his prolific spell with Besiktas a few years ago.
A few more sales and outgoing loans may have to happen first, but I’d be shocked if we weren’t showing interest in a few of the 15 players named above.
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