Bruce braced for ‘big talks’ over budget cut

BRIGHTON V NEWCASTLE 6PM, SKY SPORTS

STEVE BRUCE fears his summer transfer budget will be cut as he tries to build for next season.

Newcastle want to hand their manager about £50million but that is likely to be reduced because club income of £170m last year will drop due to Covid-19.

Bruce, above, wants up to four players and will cost deals for on-loan Danny Rose and Valentino Lazaro this week – with the future of Matty Longstaff also important.

He said: “I would envisage our budget will not be as big as what it was going to be in January before all this started.There are big discussions to be had but we are still always trying to go to find another player or two or three or four.”

A point against Newcastle will ensure Graham Potter’s first season at Brighton ends in survival. He said: “When you come in and you’re changing [the style] as we’ve seen historically that’s not so easy to do.” BRIGHTON (probable): Ryan; Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Burn; Stephens, Propper; March, Trossard, Gros; Maupay. NEWCASTLE (probable): Dubravka; Yedlin, Fernandez, Watts, Manquillo; Shelvey, Bentaleb; Ritchie, Almiron, Lazaro; Gayle.