EDDIE HOWE admits that Newcastle United’s determination to hold on to their key players means the club could opt to do no business at all during next month’s transfer window.

With the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability regulations continuing to severely restrain Newcastle’s ability to spend, a significant outlay next month would leave the Magpies needing to sell before the end of June in order to avoid a breach of the rules.

Howe is adamant he does not want to lose any of the club’s first-team players next month, a stance that would effectively rule out the possibility of bringing anyone in given that Newcastle are determined to avoid a repeat of the fire-sale from the start of this summer that saw Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh ushered through the exit door.

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Earlier this season, Howe conceded there was a risk of the current squad ‘going stale’ if no one was added to it, but the Magpies boss insists it would nevertheless be wrong to make a signing just to ‘freshen things up’.

“I don’t know if freshening up the squad is something we would necessarily look to do,” said Howe, whose side returned to the top half of the Premier League table when they won at Ipswich Town last weekend. “I think in the window that we have coming up, with the situation that we are in at the moment, freshening up is a dangerous term because what does that mean?

“I think any player that we bring into the football club has to add value. They have to add value, either short term or long term.

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“And of course, we don’t want to destabilise the squad by losing players either. So, it could be a case that we do nothing this January and move on to the summer.”

Newcastle head into their Boxing Day home game with Aston Villa off the back of a successful week that saw league wins over Leicester and Ipswich sandwich a Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Brentford.

The Magpies can look forward to a two-legged semi-final against Arsenal at the start of next year, with Howe maintaining that a Champions League place is also still a realistic ambition this season.

“We said last year, we want European football, in any respect,” he said. “But of course, the Champions League is the one that everyone wants more than anything else. So, we will give our best to have the best season that we can.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t be very successful this year. You need a little bit of luck in terms of injuries and keeping the squad together in that respect, but the team looks really good at the moment. I think the balance is strong.”