Eddie Howe rejects striker claims during Friday’s press conference

There has been a lot of talk, for months now, that Newcastle United would look to add a striker to the ranks in the summer.

Despite spending a total of £124 million on two new strikers last summer, the lack of goals this season, particularly from the front, has been a huge issue for Newcastle.

Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa have found it hard to put their stamp on things at Newcastle this season for various reasons, and while talk of either being sold in the summer has been played down, there has been plenty of talk around another player coming in.

Lately, Will Osula has made himself the first-choice striker ahead of the £124m duo, and that seems to have secured his spot in the squad for next season, but as for who will be joining him, that has been up for debate, particularly this week when rumours of a bid for Luis Suarez did the rounds.

Eddie Howe thinks Newcastle's strike force is good enough

However, in his press conference on Friday morning ahead of the visit of West Ham on Sunday, Eddie Howe downplayed the need to bring in more firepower ahead of next season when asked if he was looking to bring in a striker.

"Certainly not at the moment because in terms of striker numbers, we've got healthy numbers in that position.

"It's been a challenge for us trying to find the right balance, trying to find a way to continually score goals and create the amount of chances that we want to. I don't think we're quite there yet. I think we've got work to do in that area.

"Obviously, Yoane's had fitness struggles. Will Osula's really grown and flowered late into the seasona nd i think he's done really well in recent games. Anthony (Gordon)'s played there, Nick's played there and done well early season. I think the players are there we've just got to try and bring it together and make it work."

It probably wouldn't hurt to add another

The fact that Howe included Anthony Gordon in that piece suggests to us that there could be a spot open to be filled in the summer as who is really expecting Gordon to be here next season at this point?

While it's easy to label both Wissa and Woltemade as flops and we appreciate there are still plenty of question marks over Will Osula's capabilities, we think that with a good pre-season behind them, each of them will be a great improvement next season, so we're glad to see they could still be given a chance to prove themselves.

That being said, regardless of what happens with Gordon, we'd be keen to see another striker added, just in case the issues with Wissa and Woltemade weren't just first-season jitters.