Newcastle United head of recruitment spotted in stands at Wolverhampton Wanderers win over West Ham

· 4 January 2026, 11:00

Newcastle United aren't expected to be overly busy this month in terms of transfers. At least not as active as some fans would have hoped after a sluggish start to the season.

All the noises coming from the inside are that they are hoping to bide their time and save their money for another summer spree.

However, there is still potential for the club to do some business this month, and the fact that Steve Nickson was spotted in the stands watching Wolves record their first win of the season on Saturday has hinted at where we could be looking.

Newcastle had a strong interest in Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen in the summer and even lodged a £55 million bid, but the Norwegian opted to stay put. He may well be regretting that with Wolves rock bottom of the league and Strand Larsen only managing three goals this campaign so far.

Jorgen Strand Larsen seems the obvious player that Nickson would have been watching, but The Chronicle also suggest that he may have been casting an eye over a different forward.

Matheus Mane scored his third goal of the season on Saturday, and it was a peach of a hit. Newcastle could be tracking the youngster instead of Larsen.

There's also the possibility that Wolves wasn't the team he was looking at. It's highly unlikely, but I like to think we were there giving one last look at Jarrod Bowen before making a move to finally bring him to Tyneside. We will even give the Hammers Anthony Elanga to sweeten the deal. Howay!

Jorgen Strand Larsen or Matheus Mane seem like the more likely options, particularly Mane, with the threat of losing Will Osula being so strong.

Eddie Howe only wants to loan out Osula, but if we brought in another young striker with even more promise, he may be more inclined to do the deal to let Osula head to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Having a third striker who is first-team ready would also give Eddie Howe more scope to play Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa together, which would be nice.