Eddie Howe has insisted Newcastle’s mega-money January transfer quest is “complex.”
The Newcastle chief is trying to push through two deals this week with Seville defender Diego Carlos, Sven Botman and James Tarkowski all centre back targets.
Augsburg’s 24-year old defender Felix Uduokhai is also an option.
But Howe says even with backing from the club’s Saudi owners, it is proving tough to lure players to Tyneside, with rivals not wanting to sell, and the Toon’s increasingly fraught relegation fight damaging factors.
Newcastle have encouragement in their bid for Brazilian Carlos, and have opened preliminary talks to land Atalanta’s £25m Colombian striker Duvan Zapata.
But Newcastle are juggling multiple enquiries to see what they can land and Howe admitted: “It is a very unique position but while people on the outside think it is quite an easy situation to be in, it is not.
“It is a very complex situation. You have to agree deals with clubs that do not want to sell in January. Where we are now in world football, clubs are very reluctant to lose assets at this time of year.
“The players have to want to join your battle in the fight to stay in the league and when they are at the top of their profession, that is not an easy sell.
“Newcastle does have a huge pull in many different ways but I believe that our league position is not one of them so it is a very delicate mix.
“So for me, the most important thing is to bring in the right characters into the group.
“Character and attitude in the player that they want to play and fight for Newcastle United now and in the future so put all that into the mix and it is quite a difficult situation.
“We want balance. There were imbalances we needed to correct. Options where we can be creative and change systems. Having the basics to win games. We are trying to fix that.”
Newcastle travel to Leeds on Saturday before a 17 day rest before Everton come to St James’ Park.
Internal discussions are ongoing over the destination for a warm weather training trip. The Saudi owners want the squad to head to Riyadh, an 11 hour flight.
But that could land Howe and his under-pressure players being used as PR tools to promote the Saudi, when he really wants a no-fuss quiet trip to coach.
