Bruce closing in on £5m trio & will then spend remainder of his budget on at least one striker?
It remains to be seen if we'll 'win the race' for all three, but there's a trio of players who appear to be closing in on potential moves to Tyneside.
Those three deals involve Arsenal's Rob Holding on loan, Ryan Fraser on a free and a move for PAOK left-back Dimitris Giannoulis.
A loan deal for Holding is being tipped to go through this week, while The Telegraph reckon personal terms are all agreed for Fraser and the club are simply waiting for him to sign - albeit anxiously after being made to wait by the Scot.
With The Athletic revealing that the Greek international could be ours for just £5m and a new bid anticipated, it seems all of the above could be ours for just a couple of million quid - leaving a big chunk of Steve Bruce's budget left to sign a much needed proven striker or two?
From the outside looking in, that appears to be the plan, with Chris Waugh recently revealing that he's after AT LEAST one striker (Wilson?), a winger (Fraser?), a left-back (Giannoulis?) and a centre-back (Holding?).
That said, it's clear we really are trying to save money in every direction possible, with the offer on the table for Callum Wilson appearing to be a part-exchange involving Matt Ritchie plus cash.
If Holding, Fraser and Giannoulis do sign, we could be heading into our hunt for a striker with FIVE players signed for a total of £5m - yet we'd have made some decent additions.
Gillespie is a back-up option, some will be uninspired by Holding and Hendrick and many prefer a return for Willems over a talented but untested Giannoulis, however all those plus Ryan Fraser for £5m would be very shrewd business.
Hardly what we were dreaming of a few months ago when Coutinho and Koulibaly were linked with sensational moves to St James' Park under a Saudi regime, but it'd be a smart way to use of '£30-£35m' budget if we signed all of the above then used the remaining cash to sign a proven striker or two.
It's also worth noting that IF all of the above did sign (a huge 'if' when a certain Lee Charnley is overseeing so many deals at once!), we'd also have another domestic loan slot available to us, making a move for the likes of Liverpool's Rhian Brewster a possibility later in the window?
No breakthrough yet, but with reports in Greece tipping us to make an improved bid for Giannoulis, Holding's loan seeming close, Fraser agreed in principle providing he puts pen to paper and a deal being worked on for Wilson, it finally feels like we're pulling our finger out.
Fingers crossed we can move quickly and get these deals wrapped up to avoid a late scramble in early October when the season's already a few weeks old!
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