EDDIE Howe has outlined the importance of Newcastle United strengthening their squad with new signings - though admits nothing is close as things stand.

United have made five summer signings so far but that includes Lewis Hall's loan being made permanent, and of the other four new recruits only Lloyd Kelly is expected to be a first team regular this coming season.

John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos have arrived as cover for Nick Pope, while Serbian defender Miodrag Pivas is expected to initially play in United's youth ranks.

It's been a chaotic and uncertain summer on Tyneside so far, with the dramatic late push in June to ensure the club didn't fall foul of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules followed by the exit of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi and the future of Howe being called into question after Gareth Southgate's England departure.

Paul Mitchell has arrived as sporting director, replacing Dan Ashworth, and Howe hopes United can now make further progress in the transfer market, with arrivals needed to bolster a squad that was stretched to the absolute limit last season because of injuries.

The Magpies are hoping to avoid another injury crisis in the coming campaign but Howe has already revealed that striker Callum Wilson could miss the start of the season and Lewis Miley will also be absent.

Wilson's latest injury blow has highlighted why Howe wants to sign a striker this summer, while a right-winger is also on the club's wishlist. Despite the arrival of Kelly, Howe is also thought to want another central defender, with both Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles facing lengthy spells on the sidelines.

“I don’t personally think we are close to anything, but as I said before I highlight the need that we do need to bring players in," admitted Howe.

"We hope to add, definitely. We have recruited four players but two are goalkeepers, so we have quite a bit to do in the outfield part of our squad.

"We have a hangover of injuries from last year which we knew about going into pre-season - Joe Willock, Matt Targett, Tino Livramento still aren’t fully training with us. We hope they will come back at some stage in pre-season."

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New sporting director Mitchell hopes one off the pitch new recruit in James Bunce - performance director - will help to ensure there's no repeat of last season's injury struggles.

And despite those problems and the fact United missed out on European football, he belies the Magpies are building from a "nice platform" in the summer window.

He said: "For me shorter term, this transfer window, it's how can we make the team better, more set up to win and more aligned to how the coach wants to develop and grow the team over time.

"That's the challenge this window. We have some really great components. We're starting from a nice platform. Sometimes that's a positive but it also comes with some negatives as well, you have to be a bit more micro-strategic because actually what you're adding might be one or two positions, not a whole total rebuild.

"We've made that leap into this level, now it's about getting the small decisions right over time and not making the big decisions that unstable everything we've already built and the really exciting foundations."