EDDIE Howe has sounded a sobering warning ahead of January, admitting he's braced for a "difficult" and "quiet" winter transfer window.

Newcastle will look to strengthen their squad if the opportunity presents itself in January, with a right sided attacker and a central defender on Eddie Howe's wishlist.

The Magpies have continued to monitor Marc Guehi's situation since the summer pursuit of the England international and a right winger remains a priority.

There are also decisions to be made up-front with Callum Wilson - who hasn't yet kicked a ball this season - set to become a free agent next summer as things stand. Wilson, though, remains a key part of Howe's plans in the immediate short-term at least and the head coach is also pleased with how Will Osula is developing, so any plans to change the make-up or freshen up the attack will likely wait until next summer.

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In defence, Sven Botman has been pencilled in for a January return but Jamaal Lascelles is further behind in his recovery from a similar serious knee injury. Fabian Schar and Dan Burn will both be 33 at the end of the season.

The capture of Guehi was Newcastle's leading priority in the summer but the Magpies had to admit defeat after a long pursuit. Chasing Guehi also resulted in United moving their attention away from right-wing, but that remains on the to-do list with Miguel Almiron and Jacob Murphy having both failed to nail down the spot so far this season.

Newcastle are planning ahead for January but Howe admits he'd be "surprised" if it was a busy month of trading.

"It's unpredictable at the moment," he said.

"It's very difficult to see what is going to happen. I know no one wants to hear it, but January is always a difficult window in every window so I don't think we should necessarily go into it expecting any different to any other previous January.

"Transfer trading, generally, was down last summer compared to the previous summer so will this January follow suit and it's quieter across the board? Possibly, yes. These are things that don't go in favour of a busy window so without wanting to make predictions, I'd be surprised if it deviated from that."

While Newcastle are keen to strengthen their first team, the club's recruitment staff will also continue to play the long game and scour the market for youngsters deemed to have future potential. A deal was last month struck for highly-rated Georgian forward Vakhtang Salia, who will arrive from Dinamo Tbilisi next summer.

Newcastle will also continue to invest and improve behind the scenes. Howe has seen the club transformed since his arrival three years ago last week and says standing still is not an option.

"It's about improving everything we do," he said.

"If you look at the training ground and walk around the training ground, it's unrecognisable from the training ground that we first walked into, but it can't stop.

"In three years' time, that training ground won't be in the class that it is in now so you can't stop development of any aspect of the football club.

"Football changes so quickly and the demands change so quickly so we have to keep apace with that. It's extraordinary changes to any department, any area of the football club. You go to the academy and it's unrecognisable, but we have to keep apace with every other club because the demands are so high so that's what we will try to do."