Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has been handed a competitive transfer pot for the January window.
Toon owner Mike Ashley sanctioned a winter spend before departing the club’s Benton base on Wednesday.
But Steve Bruce is believed to have assured Ashley he would not spend for the sake of it.
However, with injury concerns mounting - and with two left-backs in Jetro Willems and Paul Dummett out for the foreseeable future - a third set of targets have been reviewed over the weekend.
Head of recruitment Steve Nickson has put all scouting trips on hold and was part of high level talks at St James’ Park over the weekend.
United may now sign up to three players in January, providing they can offload some unwanted squad players.
Bruce said after the 1-0 win over Chelsea: ”With what’s looking like two serious injuries in that position in particular, then we might have to visit something, yes.
“We’ll see. I’ll have to digest all that and look, to do it too we have to leave people out of the squad to bring people in, which is never going to be easy.”
