Robbie Fowler hails Newcastle United's transfer business and 'pragmatic' Eddie Howe

Former England forward Robbie Fowler has hailed Newcastle United's recent transfer business, declaring the Magpies 'winners' in the January window.

Head coach Eddie Howe has been backed financially and has welcomed five new additions to his squad, including Brazil international Bruno Guimarães.

Experienced full-back Kieran Trippier has also arrived on Tyneside, as have imposing forward Chris Wood and towering defender Dan Burn.

They also dipped into the loan market to recruit left-back Matt Targett from Premier League rivals Aston Villa.

Fowler has picked his winners and losers of the January transfer window in his column on the Mirror website and wrote: "The reality is that we won’t know who wins until we see the table at the end of the season.

"If Newcastle are in the bottom three, then you’d have to say spending almost £100million on new players makes them the biggest losers. For me, though, right now, they’re ­winners in the window. I’d qualify that by saying there’s no trophy for winning the transfer window!"

"As I said above, they have done some good business. Why? Well, yes they’ve spent a lot of money, but I reckon they’ve used it pretty wisely under the ­circumstances."

By recruiting Trippier, Burn, Targett and Wood, they added a combined 470 Premier League appearances to their squad, which supporters will be hoping proves invaluable in the battle for survival.

Fowler wrote: "They’ve tried not to gamble too much, bringing in players with real Premier League experience. Again, that doesn’t always work, because players can go from one club to another and not fit in.

"But I’d applaud Eddie Howe. It strikes me that he’s been pragmatic in this window. He could have gone and bought some big names, some flashy