HE might have described his side’s opening-day performance as “brilliant”, but Eddie Howe insists Newcastle United’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest has not changed his desire to bring in reinforcements before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

The Magpies made a winning start to the season as second-half goals from Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson secured victory at St James’ Park.

Summer signings Nick Pope and Matt Targett featured in Newcastle’s starting XI, with Sven Botman making his Magpies debut as he left the bench in the closing stages of the game.

Ideally, Howe would like to make two more signings this summer, having identified the need for another striker and a wide attacker.

Newcastle’s transfer dealings have hit a brick wall in the last couple of weeks, with Leicester having rejected two bids for James Maddison, Bayer Leverkusen having refused to budge over Moussa Diaby and Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel having refused to allow Armando Broja to leave on loan.

Howe accepts the current market is a difficult one in which to operate, but his desire to make further additions remains intact.

The Magpies boss said: “I’m not aware that anything has changed on that front, and I don’t anticipate that to be the case because everyone has been concentrating on the games, and rightly so.

“I don’t think today changes anything from my view. My squad is an excellent squad of players. I love the individuals we have, but I’d like to add some more quality to that if possible.”