In his recent article for The Shields Gazette looking back at some of the key takeaways from Newcastle United’s Premier League loss to Leicester City at the weekend, journalist Liam Kennedy shed some light on Steve Bruce’s current transfer priority at St. James’ Park.
As explained by Kennedy, Bruce has previously urged fans of the North East club to expect a quiet January transfer window but the Toon boss did also recently claim that he and his staff are looking at “one or two things.”
Now, Kennedy has hinted that the 60-year-old’s main area of focus at present is the left-back position, with the journalist revealing that Bruce has got two left-back targets lined up – one of which is suggested to be his main target and the other, a reserve, in case the deal for the first option falls through.
Left-back has proven a major problem area for Newcastle United
Newcastle have been trying to solve their issues at left-back for quite some time. Last season, they brought Jetro Willems to the club on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt but he ended up getting sidelined from 18th January until the end of the 2019/20 campaign by a cruciate ligament rupture.
They went on to sign Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose on loan in January until the end of the season before bringing Jamal Lewis to St. James’ Park for £14.85m – their second-most expensive signing of the last summer transfer window.
While Lewis has been the Toon’s main left-back this term, the 22-year-old has failed to hit the ground running at his new club, earning the joint-second-lowest overall WhoScored rating of any Newcastle player to have started a Premier League game this season, so you could argue that the left-back position has remained a problem area for the Toon despite them investing relatively heavily in that position.
Should left-back be Newcastle's priority?
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As a result, judging by what Kennedy has revealed, it seems like Bruce is determined to further reinforce that position this month, with the Toon boss now lining up two targets.
In other news, the Newcastle Consortium Supporters Ltd (NCSL) have dropped a big takeover claim after Jamie Reuben ‘liked’ one of their latest Twitter posts.
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