Eddie Howe issues fresh Newcastle United transfer update after Crystal Palace ‘frustrations’

Eddie Howe has reiterated his desire to strengthen his Newcastle United squad in the remaining days of the January transfer window.

The Magpies lost Chris Wood to Nottingham Forest on Friday, which frees up a spot in the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.

Howe is keen to bring in “a player” amid fears his squad could become depleted if players begin to pick up injuries.

“As a manager, you always want more options,” Howe said. “I’ve got no issue with the squad, strength or size. The point I was making yesterday was if we get injuries, we’d be very light.

“We’re keen to do business and keen to bring a player that can hopefully help us but as we know in this window, there are no guarantees that will happen.”

Pressed further, Howe said: “We want to sign a player. Yeah, for sure. I’ve been preparing for this game so I don’t have any fresh updates.”

Howe was speaking after the goalless draw against Crystal Palace, where the 45-year-old was left frustrated to only take a point.

“We did most things right today, I thought we played very well and controlled the game,” Howe said. “We had chances, maybe not absolute must-score moments but a lot of chances you’d like to think we’d do better with if we had them again.

“We had a lot of the ball around their box and a lot of build-up play but we just couldn’t score a goal.”