The deals Newcastle United may look to strike - if any - on transfer deadline day

The scowl. The disdainful answer. One word. The awkward silence.

Anyone who has witnessed Steve Bruce’s post-match interview on Saturday will definitely have got a colour of the mood at St James’ Park in terms of transfers.

The summer transfer window slams shut this evening - 11pm to be precise - and a quiet summer so far, looks set to be wrapped up with an even more silent final few hours of trading.

While big deals will likely be wrapped up everywhere across the Premier League, with United’s next two Premier League opponents understood to be involved in one or two of the more high-profile, high stakes ones, Newcastle aren’t expected to dip their toe in the market. Well, unless their situation changes sharpish.

The issues facing Steve Bruce on the final day of the transfer window

At present, Bruce has 25 eligible players for his 25-man Premier League squad. And with a seeming reluctance to keep anyone hanging around outside of that group, as per the likes of Henri Saivet and others in recent years, Bruce must shift on players before a signing is made.

The other factor in all of this is that four of those 25 are goalkeepers - Martin Dubravka, Karl Darlow, Freddie Woodman and Mark Gillespie.

With Slovak Dubravka not expected to return until October and Darlow still working his way back for a bad spell with Covid, United have so far relied on Woodman. And while the 24-year-old has done little wrong, he hasn’t really done enough to nail down a spot, either.

Will one be sacrificed on the final day to add another player? Only time will tell.

The biggest issue Bruce has endured this summer has been the lack of activity from the Championship. It is thought Newcastle were expecting to see Bournemouth return for Matt Ritchie, and a number of other clubs would show interest in the likes of Ciaran Clark, Dwight Gayle and others.

Money has been short, with Covid hitting budgets hard in the second tier, and one or two players who may normally have found a move, have had to sit tight at St James’ Park.

Do United have any money available to spend?

Well, with the deal with Arsenal for Joe Willock being spread out over multiple years and in instalments, you’d think so, right?

Unfortunately, no. The Willock ‘up front’ fee is understood to have hoovered up almost all of United’s summer budget.

So unless United can broker a loan with little to no fee, then the last day will be dead, in a transfer sense, anyway.

Is there any interest in players?

United retain an interest in Hamza Choudhury but look set to be disappointed again in their chase for the player. Leicester want a sale but United want a loan.

If a player doesn’t depart or a keeper left out, then this one, and other deals, look to be nothing more than a pipedream.