"I’m hearing talk of 5 or 6” - Journalist claims Saudi PIF set for transfer U-turn at NUFC

According to Duncan Castles, Newcastle United's new owners have drastically changed their transfer stance heading into the January window.

The former Sunday Times reporter claims that they were initially expecting a 'conservative' winter, as the Saudi PIF preferred not to pay over the odds for players in what is a notoriously difficult time to do business midway through a season.

However, Castles claims they have soon realised that we are in a 'worse state than expected' and require serious investment and injection of real quality to make sure we stay up this season.

Here's what he's had to say when speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, stating that he's heard talk of up to five or six players arriving in January as a result:

“They have realised that the club is in a worse state in football terms than they expected when they came in and that relegation is a real possibility given the poor quality of players they have and the position they’re in,”

“How do they solve that? Obviously, the January window has become more important to them than they initially expected.

"Initially, the idea was to be conservative in the January window, they didn’t want to do deals then.

"They were conscious that it’s hard to do deals then, the prices can be high and availability is limited, but they now feel that they have to use the window to its maximum potential.

"I’m hearing talk of maybe five or six players coming in.”

With us currently five points from safety and facing a horrible run of fixtures over the festive period, it's easy to see why the new owners are now preparing for January.

Hopefully we can put ourselves in a healthier position come the new year, with any quality players usually reluctant to join a side heading for relegation half-way through a season.

Another challenge will be convincing clubs to sell. Money talks, but recent reports suggest a host of Premier League clubs will refuse to do business with our new Saudi owners.

Either way, it looks set to be a hectic January at St James' Park!