'Hope' - Official Newcastle United deadline day update after Marc Guehi talks & transfer U-turn

The Magpies have been trying to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi for the best part of the three weeks but a deal is set to fail after negotiations stalled. Palace have demanded in excess of £70million and talks have been complicated by a knee injury for Chadi Riad.

United remain interested in Guehi but will only strike if Palace lower their demands. Howe’s side could also make a late move for Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford but that is dependent on either Odysseas Vlachodimos or Martin Dubravka departing.

Howe said: “There is still time and there is still work going hours to try and see what we can do in the last few hours. While there is time, there is hope. I don’t think we’ll be closed right until right to the end in both ways.”

“There is,” Howe said when asked if it is possible no-one arrives. “With such short time left it is looking difficult. This window, as I’ve said many times, has been difficult and continues to be difficult for us. We’re in a really difficult situation with PSR and available funds, attracting the right players and the players we think can make a difference.

“It’s such a delicate spot for us, we’ve got to try and hit it right and if we don’t then probably doing nothing, as frustrating as that is, is probably the best option.”

Asked if he’s happy with the squad or feels the club has fallen short in the window, Howe replied: “Yeah, a bit of both. There will be a feeling that we have a good squad and we like all the players that we have in our squad but there is a feeling of course that there are a few areas of the squad that we felt we needed to strengthen so I think we’ll carry those emotions depending on what happens in the next few hours.”

Howe believes under Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), transfer markets will never be the same.

“The emergence of PSR… for a lot of football clubs, the actual workings of the window have totally changed but it’s taken time for everyone to realise how that would change and certainly for me as the manager, when you’re spending 90% of your time on the training pitch with the players then this new dynamic totally throws anything out that you’re doing, change the way your recruit players is a big shift.

“I think through time, if the rules remain the same, will get used to that but it’s a change for us and of course a change for everyone - media, supporters because transfer business, under its current format, will never be the same again.”

Newcastle have sold Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh while signing Lloyd Kelly on a free transfer and 21-year-old Will Osula for £15million as the only two outfield signings so far.

Did Howe expect more signings? “Expecting? I don’t know if that is the right word,” he said. “Hopeful, yeah. When we start out and go into the window, there are various parts of the squad that needed looking at and needed work. It’s the same wish for everybody working internally, there’s no one part that goes ‘we don’t want to support that’, we do, altogether, and we want to find the right solutions.

“But they’ve got to be the right solutions, the worst thing you can do is bring the wrong players to the football as that would harm us for a long time. It’s always about the right players and if you can’t find the right players, it’s probably best to do that.”