Steve Bruce is to meet Mike Ashley for the first time since August when the Newcastle United owner visits the club’s training ground for a transfer summit later this week.
Bruce – who has not exchanged a single phone call, email or text message with Ashley since the summer – will offer the retail tycoon a friendly welcome but is expected to inform him that he is in the market for quality rather than quantity, and would prefer to shop in the £20m-£30m bracket.
“It’s been a while,” said Bruce. “But I’m meeting up with the owner in the next couple of days. It was his idea. He lets me get on with the job – which is hugely respectful – and our CEO [Lee Charnley] is my point of daily contact. But he just wanted to come in and see if he could give us a hand. He wants to have a cup of tea with me.
“If there’s someone that’s available this month and they can really make us better, I’ll ask the owner, who was very supportive in the summer. But I won’t just bring in players for the sake of it. They’ve got to improve us.”
Newcastle’s manager would be interested in acquiring the England Under-21 winger Ademola Lookman from Leipzig, along with a central midfielder and a centre-forward to augment the struggling £40m striker Joelinton. He had hoped to take Olivier Giroud on loan from Chelsea but the France forward is now bound for Internazionale. Bruce is understood to have rejected an opportunity to sign Cenk Tosun on loan from Everton before the striker joined Crystal Palace.
“I’m not saying it’s got to be a £20m signing,” said Bruce. “But if we can get one or two with that quality it would be better than five or six.”
Newcastle’s manager was infuriated when he was labelled an Ashley “puppet” by fans during the summer after speaking warmly of the club’s unpopular owner. “I’ll never be anyone’s puppet,” he said. “I want what’s best for the club.”
It is not certain when Ashley will arrive for his meeting with Bruce but he will probably wait until any dust has settled from Tuesday night’s third-round replay against League One Rochdale, with a home tie against Oxford awaiting the winners. Newcastle have not reached the fifth round since Ashley bought the club in 2007 but Bruce is looking to bring a first major trophy to St James’ Park since the Fairs Cup in 1969. His efforts are being jeopardised by an epidemic of soft tissue injuries that will deprive him of at least nine regulars on Tuesday night. “I’ve never known anything quite like it,” he said. “But they should all be back in a couple of weeks.”
Bruce says will nevertheless field a “strong side” in the replay with the captain, Jamaal Lascelles, set to return to defence following injury and Joelinton facing a late fitness test.