‘The trouble is’ - Eddie Howe reveals why Newcastle United didn’t sign a striker amid £63m injury blow

Eddie Howe has explained why Newcastle United didn’t recruit a third striker during their £130million summer transfer spend.

The Magpies lost Alexander Isak to a recurring thigh injury in the early stages of the defeat to Borussia Dortmund last week and the Swede won’t return until after the November international break at the earliest.

That leaves Callum Wilson as the club’s only recognised frontman. However, the England international is unlikely to start against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday as Newcastle look to manage his load on the back Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Wolves.

Howe is likely to turn to his ‘emergency’ option to lead at the line at Old Trafford.

He said: “That was one of the reasons for signing Anthony, who can play as a centre forward, which he did for England at the Euros and did a great job.

“There are others - Harvey [Barnes] can play up there, although we don’t have him at the moment. Joelinton was also signed as a centre forward, although we’ve moved his position.”

Asked if losing Isak or Wilson to injury was considered in the summer, Howe added: “The trouble is, you’re sort of alluding to signing a third striker. We just didn’t have the resources to do that.

“You can only go with the information you have at the time. As much as you can have a crystal ball and try to predict what will happen, that is part of our job as well, you only have a certain amount of resources and you have to make the decisions you’re faced with at the time.”