Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Steve Bruce has distanced himself from a move for Josh King – the forward Bournemouth are looking to sell this month before his contract expires this summer.
Not only that, he’s insisted that his squad is in good shape at the “top end of the pitch”, suggesting we’ll instead be focusing on the defence and midfield during the January transfer window.
The better news is that he’s confirmed the club are active in the market and have a couple of deals “bubbling away” – a promising line he’s gone with in several interviews this month – however it seems his hopes of landing Brandon Williams on loan may be fading.
Here’s what he’s told talkSPORT today, starting with his response when asked if there was any truth in reports linking us with King:
“No, No.
“At the top end of the pitch we’ve invested a lot of money, so no, we’re okay in that area.”
The NUFC boss then gave a broader update on potential incomings, stating that the club are active in the market and have “one or two” possible deals “bubbling away”:
“We’ll see.
“If there’s somebody there who can help us, we’re always actively looking.
“One or two things are bubbling away.”
“But I cannot see it being a busy transfer window for everybody.”
So, it seems we’ll have to settle for a midfielder and defender at best this month.
On that subject, talkSPORT’s Alex Crook fears we may now miss out on Man Utd full-back Brandon Williams, with Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s likely exit meaning the 20-year-old could be needed as cover and no longer allowed to leave on loan:
“Steve Bruce distanced himself from Josh King, and it’s defensively where he’d most keen to get cover,”
“But we’re hearing that Manchester United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah is leaving Old Trafford, which is no massive surprise, really, because he turned down the option to extend his contract which expires in the summer.
“Bayer Leverkusen are close to agreeing a fee of around £1.5million for Fosu-Mensah… but it’s one of those transfers I think we could see a lot of this month, that could have knock-on effects for other deals.
“One of those affected could be Brandon Williams, the United defender who is wanted by both Southampton and Newcastle.
“I wonder if United would be so willing to let him go now that Fosu-Mensah is set to depart, because that would leave them a bit short of cover at full-back.
“You’d also question why Bruce doesn’t want any more attackers, given Newcastle’s lack of goals this season; but I suppose Newcastle fans might say it doesn’t matter who plays upfront because they don’t create enough chances.”
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0 wins and 1 goal in over 8 hours of football. Aye, we are totally well equipped up front, eh? What a cabbage Bruce is and more confirmation Ashley’s insistence on buying Joelnton means he has to be played – and we are stuck with him.
sickandtired(Quote)
How can he say we are ok at the top of the pitch with out a goal in 360 hours of football or is because an 18 year old kid made a 40 million pound footballer look even worse then is his if we are sticking with joelintoln on the left of three up front then we are going down it just shows how inept he is as a manager I think we will get stuffed tonight at Sheffield and then Bruce will have to go if he wants to have any chance of keep pifon board of a sale SACK him quick before it gets any worse toonarmy HWTH
David Roxborough(Quote)