Bruce aiming to add a striker in January to bolster goal-shy Newcastle

Steve Bruce has confirmed Newcastle United are “working away” to sign a striker during the January transfer window.

United have scored 20 goals in 21 Premier League games this season, while their profligacy in the final third forced them to settle for a 1-1 draw away at Rochdale in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Club-record signing Joelinton has certainly found the transition tough since arriving from Hoffenheim in July, finding the net only once.

Bruce revealed he has already had a “couple of knock-backs” in his attempts to add attacking reinforcements, though he will not be making any panic buys before the end of the month.

“We’ve had a couple of knock-backs already, so we’ll keep working away,” the Newcastle boss said after the game with Rochdale.

“It’s very difficult, especially at that end of the pitch, to get something that’s going to make you better. I won’t just be bringing in players for the sake of it, but we’ll see what the next two or three weeks bring.”

Bruce added: “Our frailties are pretty obvious – we don’t score enough goals and with the chances we’ve created today we’ve got to be taking them and the tie should have been put to bed.”

40y 75d – At 40 years and 75 days old, Aaron Wilbraham is the oldest goalscorer for a Football League club in the FA Cup since Jamie Cureton for Dagenham & Redbridge against Whitehawk in December 2015 (40y 100d). Veteran. pic.twitter.com/nDKm0fn3Ti

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 4, 2020

Joelinton’s struggles continued against Rochdale, the Brazilian hitting the target with just one of his six shots against League One opponents.

However, Bruce used the example of Miguel Almiron – who scored Newcastle’s goal at Spotland on Saturday after finally breaking his duck for the club against Crystal Palace last month – to portray how quickly things can turn around.

“He [Joelinton] has had a difficult time but he’s got to stick at it,” Bruce said. “Until two weeks ago Almiron hadn’t scored but now he’s scored two in fairly quick succession, so he’s just got to stick at it.”