Nottingham Forest man in 'advanced' talks with Newcastle United according to report

It has been another turbulent summer for Newcastle United as the Magpies still haven't brought in a first-team signing while other clubs press ahead with their transfer business.

Newcastle have made moves, but they've seen a handful of targets move to other clubs already, which has made it very frustrating for fans.

The Magpies' recruitment efforts haven't been helped by more changes behind the scenes, with sporting director Paul Mitchell leaving his role after less than a year in the position.

The club are trying to play down the impact his decision is having on recruitment, but fans are not buying it.

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Newcastle are in the middle of the recruiting process for a new sporting director

The recruitment process is underway to find Newcastle's third sporting director in as many years, and Nottingham Forest man Ross Wilson, along with former Arsenal interim sporting director Jason Ayto, have both advanced to the next stage of recruitment, according to The Athletic.

Ayto is currently without a job, having left Arsenal at the end of the season, whereas Wilson is still in his role at Nottingham Forest, which will make it a bit more tricky to bring him in as Forest will require compensation.

Even if Newcastle appoint a new sporting director this summer, we'll be in the same position as last year, with the new chief coming in during a transfer window when all the hard work is done and not being able to change things due to time constraints.

Things don't feel right at Newcastle United lately

Transfers are currently being handled by Steve Nickson and Andy Howe with input from Eddie Howe, and we're sure there's a lot of work being done behind the scenes, we're just not seeing much evidence of it.

The communication out of the club has taken a nosedive since Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi left last year, and there's no bigger indicator of that than the fact that we're at the evening of the 2nd of July and we still don't know if Callum Wilson, whose contract expired on Monday, is staying or going.

We aren't going to hit the big panic button just yet over the state of the boardroom at Newcastle, especially as things are going well where it matters - on the pitch - but we need to show some stability now. Things feel so disjointed inside the club and it is a bit of a worry.