Manchester City now look set to beat Newcastle United to two new signings this month

If there's any indication of where Newcastle United now are as a club it's that we are fishing in the same transfer pond as Manchester City.

Unfortunately, Man City still has the better equipment and more enticing bait as the Premier League Champions are now reported to be closing in on two new signings, both of whom have been linked to Newcastle this month.

The media is very good at linking Newcastle with pretty much any player with a sterling reputation, and we're never quite sure how much truth there is to the rumours, however at least one of these two signings had a very strong connection to Newcastle - at least in the media.

RC Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov has been linked to Newcastle for so long that I no longer have to look up how to spell his name, but it seems that the Uzbek defender is Manchester-bound according to reports from France (via The Chronicle).

Getty Images

Man City are closing in on Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush

The 20-year-old centre-back had a few Premier League admirers but for a while it felt like Newcastle were winning the race, however, Manchester City looks to be the youngster's next destination.

City are also closing in on the signing of Eintracht Frankfurt's in-form forward Omar Marmoush with reports suggesting that the club and the player have agreed terms and it's now just down to Man City and Frankfurt to agree on a price.

It's expected that the fee will end up being around £50 million for the Egyptian, according to the Daily Mail, which would probably have ruled out Newcastle in January anyway.

Will Newcastle do any business at all this month?

Again, it's hard to say for sure whether Newcastle were ever genuinely at the table for either player or whether we would have had the financial clout to go as high as £50 million for Marmoush.

We're ten days into the transfer window and things are glacially slow at Newcastle once again, and it is starting to feel like it's going to be another barren window for the Magpies.

We knew it would be slow if anything were to happen at all, but predicting it and living it are two very different things, aren't they?