Fabrizio Romano doesn't believe anything is advanced between Newcastle United and transfer target Sander Berge.

The Lowdown: Midfield is an area to improve

Following the departure of Jonjo Shelvey, Eddie Howe admitted that Newcastle are going to try to do some business before the deadline to give them another body in midfield.

However, during his pre-match press conference, he insisted to the media that nothing was guaranteed, which would suggest the club do not have a replacement lined up.

The Magpies have long been linked with a move for Conor Gallagher, who is said to be the subject of a huge bid from Everton, as well as Championship ace Berge, who will soon be into the final year of his contract at Sheffield United.

The Latest: Nothing advanced with Berge

Despite a lot of noise about Berge and him making a potential loan switch to Newcastle, Romano insisted nothing was advanced while speaking The House of Champions YouTube channel on Monday.

He said: "They will look for a loan, so for an opportunity, I don't expect any big deal happening for Newcastle in that position.

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/newcastle-news-7/" title="Newcastle news!" poster="" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

"We had many rumours on Sander Berge, but at the moment I'm told it's not advanced. They're looking for different options at the moment."

The Verdict: Newcastle keeping their options open

It would be foolish for Newcastle to have put all of her eggs into the Berge basket, especially when Fulham were said to be in the race to land the Norway international and willing to pay a transfer fee.

Therefore, talk of Everton making a move for Gallagher may well force PIF's hand and get them to act quickly on that front to try to bring him to Tyneside as he's clearly a huge Howe target.

This is because Gallagher was linked over the summer and was being tipped with a move to Tyneside quite early on in this transfer window, although if he doesn't end up leaving, Newcastle could move for someone such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who's also said to be on Howe's radar, as per The Telegraph.