Steve Bruce admits he's desperate to get Newcastle United's winless season going – but confirmed he can't spend any more money in the transfer window.
Newcastle have lost against West Ham and Aston Villa, conceding six goals, and face a tense Carabao Cup tie against Burnley at St James' Park.
United have splashed out £25m on Joe Willock who will “get more minutes” on his road to full fitness on Wednesday night.
But Bruce says there will be no more spending, while Matty Longstaff is set to leave on loan this week.
Central midfielders Isaac Hayden and Jonjo Shelvey are injured, and Bruce, who wants to borrow Hamza Choudhury from Leicester for the season, said: “Burnley is an ideal chance to get up and running. Can we get into the next round and some points on the board at the weekend.
“We always need a win. There have been a lot of positives. There was not much in it at Villa."
Bruce wanted to rejig his squad more this summer, including selling, but admitted: “If there is a loan deal who can help us, then that’s what we’ll try to do, but as for bringing somebody in permanently, I can say that’s probably not going to happen.
“It is a difficult situation with finances everywhere.
“It’s fair to say we’ve gone with the same squad near enough that we finished with last year. We finished very, very strongly. We went all in to get Joe Willock so that’s the way we are at the moment. We would love to bring in some more, but the way the situation is, we simply can’t. We have to get on with it and hope we are strong enough to go and better what we did last year.
“Most people have to trade, but I’ve been unable to do that. We haven’t been able to sell. Nobody wants to sell their best players, but we all would like to be in a position to trade. That’s normal.
“But we haven’t been in the situation to do that. I’m not talking about selling your best players, but if you can trade then you can alter your squad.
“We haven’t been able to do that because the Championship is on its knees, so there’s no movement there, and really the only league you can sell to at the moment is the Premier League.
“There’s not much happening in Spain, not much happening in France and there’s very little money in Italy. We’ve not been able to trade the way I would have liked to. I would certainly have listened to a few offers, but they haven’t been forthcoming.”
Asked about Newcastle's pursuit of Choudhury, Bruce said: “It's unfair to mention other players. There are a lot out of there. But in the last week of the window.... I have never known it so quiet.”
On Matty Longstaff he confirmed: “It is something we have decided might be best for Matty. We will see in the next week and we hope something happens in the next couple of days.
No1 keeper Martin Dubravka will not be fit for another two months, while Bruce is urging patience as Karl Darlow recovers from COVID.
“Timescales are difficult on them,” Bruce added.
