Transfer Gossip Round-Up (Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough): Thursday, January 8

NEWCASTLE

There’s always a problem when you start writing a transfer round-up involving the North-East teams – namely, they never bloody sign anyone.

So while we can spend the rest of the month trotting out a host of names being linked with Newcastle – and undoubtedly will do because, let’s be honest, this page isn’t going to write itself – deep down, we all probably know the Magpies will head into February without having signed anyone.

With his side safely nestled in mid-table, and seemingly at little risk of going down, Mike Ashley is unlikely to be in a rush to start emptying his bank accounts this month.

The ongoing search for another head coach provides yet another reason for Ashley to keep his powder dry, and all the signals so far suggest it’s going to be an extremely quiet month transfer wise on Tyneside.

A transfer round-up without transfers – that’s the way of it at Newcastle at the moment.

Likelihood rating: *****

The search for Alan Pardew’s successor continues apace – albeit that that pace is something of a snail’s crawl at the moment.

John Carver has been told he will remain in charge for Saturday’s game at Chelsea, and there is every chance of him still being in position for the following weekend’s meeting with Southampton.

Remi Garde remains the leading candidate for the head coach role on a permanent basis, and as revealed in The Northern Echo earlier this week, the Frenchman wants the job.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe became the latest person to rule himself out of the running yesterday, so Garde’s desire to take over on Tyneside is already enough to set him apart from most of the other candidates on the bookmakers’ lists.

Likelihood rating: ****

SUNDERLAND

ARE Sunderland any more likely to make a signing than Newcastle this month? Well at least Gus Poyet has been given an indication that there could be money to spend, albeit that Ellis Short’s transfer budget for the month is likely to be limited.

Ideally, Sunderland’s head coach would like to sign a defender and a striker this month, but when push comes to shove, there is every chance he will have to select one over the other.

In terms of defenders, the latest name to be linked with the Black Cats yesterday was that of Sassuolo centre-half, Francesco Acerbi, who is rated at around €4m.

Roberto De Fanti might be long gone, but Sunderland continue to boast strong Italian links. Nevertheless, the chances of Acerbi arriving this month would appear extremely remote.

Likelihood rating: *

AT the other end of the field, Bruma has been linked with Sunderland extensively over the last year or so, and there had been talk of a more formal move for the Galatasaray forward.

The 20-year-old barely featured in the opening weeks of the season, but a change of Galatasaray manager has resulted in a change of fortunes, and his new boss, Hamza Hamzaoglu, is confident he will be going nowhere this month.

“Bruma is a great prospect,” said Hamzaoglu. “We are going to keep trying to get the best out of him and aid his development. He is likely to be staying at Galatasaray.”

Likelihood rating: *

MIDDLESBROUGH

It’s all gone fairly quiet on the Middlesbrough transfer front, with Aitor Karanka seemingly pretty happy with the squad he currently has at his disposal.

If there’s one position that could do with strengthening it’s goalkeeper, with Dimi Konstantopoulos due to become a free agent at the end of the season and Tomas Mejias having struggled following his move from Real Madrid.

Karanka could extend Konstantopoulos’ contract by another season, but that is unlikely to happen before the summer. The alternative is to sign a long-term replacement for the Greek this month, but that prospect seems a fair way off at the moment.

Likelihood rating: **