Eddie Howe makes interesting Newcastle United transfer admission after securing £30m deal

Eddie Howe hopes Newcastle United can sign one more player before the summer transfer window shuts on September 1.

The Magpies have spent around £130million on recruiting Yankuba Minteh - who is on loan at Feyenoord - Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, Harvey Barnes from Leicester City and Tino Livramento.

Livramento’s £30m plus add-ons arrival from Southampton was confirmed on Monday, and Howe is hopeful the club’s summer business isn’t finished there.

“You can sit here and say ‘yes I think we have a perfect squad’ then get five or six injuries and go ‘jesus, it doesn’t look the same now’,” said Howe, speaking ahead of Saturday evening’s Premier League opener at home to Aston Villa.

“Personally, I’d love one more player and then I think we’d have the ideal depth at this moment with the injuries that we currently have. But, let’s wait and see.”

Howe was then asked if he had assurances the funds were there to seal a fifth summer signing. The United head coach said: “That’s a good question! Not 100% because it depends on the deal. I think we may have to be creative with this last player.

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“It’s difficult to make that a definite because again it would depends on injuries between now and the window shutting.”

Asked what the term “creative” means, Howe replied: “I’m not sure! It means that we can’t just go out and slap money on the table and buy a player.

“We don’t have the resources to do that at the moment due to Financial Fair Play restrictions. It’s about trying to find a different way, rather than paying money in the here and now.”

Due to FFP restrictions, Howe was forced to offload Allan Saint-Maximin to Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli in order to bring in Barnes and Livramento after paying £52m to land Tonali.

But Howe has ruled out the possibility of needing to sell another senior player.

“The problem of doing that when you’re selling someone to bring someone in, you need to bring two players in.

“If you sell someone with the squad dynamic and the balance we have at the moment, we’re looking for two and to do one deal in this window is hard enough. I don’t think that’s, as I sit here now, with the information I have, I don’t think that’s a viable option.”