Chris Hughton has four vacancies left to fill

Jan 8 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton wants to make four signings before the closure of the January transfer window.

The Newcastle United boss wants to replace the departing Geremi and either renew loans for the three players he signed on a temporary basis this season or bring in new signings to cover for them.

Hughton let Zurab Khizanishvili and Marlon Harewood return to Blackburn and Aston Villa respectively and is still negotiating with Manchester United over Danny Simpson – although he would like to extend his stay at St James’ Park.

With Geremi still keen to move to Turkish side Ankaragücü that creates four vacancies that Hughton wants to fill sooner rather than later.

“I would like to have the same numbers for the second half of the season,” he said. “But where we are at the moment, I am very very happy with the squad. I do not feel I need to add an awful lot.

“I think the strength of where we are at the moment is that we have been able to stay a tight knit group. So far we have been fortunate with injuries.

“A lot of players have played in a lot of games for us and I think that has been the strength of the team so far.”