Steve Bruce has revealed that Newcastle United would have broken their club record transfer fee had it not been for a "change of heart" from their number one January target.
Sources in France now believed that the player Bruce was talking about was Lille's Boubakary Soumare with a €55million deal accepted by the Ligue 1 club, only for the 20-year-old to decide to stay.
Bruce says he was happy with the business Newcastle did manage with Danny Rose, Valentino Lazaro and Nabil Bentaleb all arriving on high profile loan deals.
When asked his feelings on the window, Bruce told the Chronicle: "I am delighted with it.
"A lot of people say we needed another striker, and what I am saying is we genuinely scoured the market.
"What I said all the time was that if there was somebody there that I could realistically buy, then we'd act.
"We had a number 1 target in the window that we had a bid accepted by the club.
"The player had a change of heart.
"We have to respect it although it's a kick in the teeth."
The emphasis now moves on to the summer market for Newcastle with Bruce already talking up the hopes of Rose joining permanently if everything goes well for the England left-back.
When asked about the next phase of recruitment, Bruce added: "Now we have to keep our powder dry.
"We'll keep it for the summer when there will be a lot more opportunity to go and get what you want.
"That's what we'll try to do."
