CRU N C H T Y N E FOR THE TOON

Howe has millions to spend in January sales but knows he must get it right to avoid dreaded drop

MORE than £40million on the table for two new players just five months after they could not afford an £850,000 loan fee.

The contrast between the August transfer window of Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, and Eddie Howe’s Saudi-funded rebuild of Newcastle United is stark.

The new regime has agreed a fee for Kieran Trippier of around £12m plus add-ons, the England fullback quitting Champions League Atletico Madrid for a relegation rescue job.

And Toon are battling AC Milan for Lille defender Sven Botman, with £30m being dangled.

Five months ago, Bruce was told there was no money to pay Leicester less than £1m to take Hamza Choudhury on loan.

Howe has mocked the incessant transfer talk, saying if he signed all those mentioned he would “have a squad of about 1,000 new players”.

He needs fresh blood everywhere and aims for at least four signings this month. January 15, when second bottom Newcastle host fellow strugglers Watford, will mark the 100th day of Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund ownership.

In that time there has been just one win, against Burnley, with only 11 points amassed in 19 games.

This month is their first big test in moving from fantasy football rumours to reality. Defence is a priority for a side that leaked a Premier League record 80 goals in 2021.

Burnley’s James Tarkowski, Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly, Joe Rodon of Spurs and Arsenal’s Rob Holding are targets.

Left-back Lucas Digne, frozen out at Everton, is a possibility but not before a tough-tackling midfielder is landed.

Marseille’s Boubacar Kamara has been watched, along with Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo (below). More speculative would be loan moves for Donny Van de Beek and Barcelona’s former Toon midfielder Gini Wijnaldum.

With Callum Wilson out for up to eight weeks with calf trouble, resources

could be redirected to attack. Barca’s Ousmana Dembele appears out of reach, but Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah is an option, while Brazilian Gabriel Barbosa is being touted around.

Rival clubs are also hovering and contract negotiations are complicated by the relegation risk.

Trippier is poised to become the first signing for the consortium – and become Toon’s highest-paid player ever on £150,000 a week.

The 31-year-old wants to return to the Premier League and land a longer-term deal than his Atletico contract, which runs out next year.

But would he stay if Newcastle go down, wrecking his England World Cup squad chances?

And would every top player ask for a guarantee to be moved on in the summer if the worst happens?

Yet those with character, ambition and an appreciation of what Toon can become in future years would fancy the challenge. That, and hefty pay cheques. United are in a three-from-four scrap to stay up, but all is not lost. Five or six wins and five draws from the remaining 19 games seems the bare minimum.

They play only one of the current top six, West Ham, in their next seven league games.

It is now or never.