Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray is hopeful that Newcastle United will decide to extend Adam Armstrong's loan with the Sky Blues when it expires next week after the game with Burton Albion.
"His loan expires on January 16th and it will have to be done in the next week, one way or the other, and I’m pretty hopeful,” said Mowbray about Armstrong who has interest from Championship clubs, to the Coventry Telegraph.
“In my mind at the moment it’s positive news. I know what the boy would like to do and I know what his advisors would like to do. He’s Newcastle’s player; they pay him and they can do with him what they want.
“The agreement we initially signed is coming to a close and obviously from our point of view it’s something we would like to do.
“I know that there are lots of clubs from the league above us who have also inquired about him and would like to take him but it’s just whether Newcastle feel he’s in the right place.
“The manager has got his own opinion and in an ideal world it might suit them that he stays here and scores 30-odd goals this season and his stock rises to a level where they either believe he’s ready for their first team or maybe he can try the next level and see if he can score 20 goals in the Championship next season.
“Hopefully that will be with Coventry City. Let’s wait and see.
“I don’t want to shout any odds because he’s Newcastle’s player. If he was my player and had gone somewhere and was scoring loads of goals I’d be happy that he was doing that and his career was developing.
“I’d have to assess whether he could do the job in our team; should I bring him back, should I keep him where he is playing and being confident and building value into him. Those are the decisions Newcastle have to make.but until the paperwork is done and signed anything could change at any given time.
“I’d like to think Steve McClaren is an experienced manager and he has a big, big say in what happens at Newcastle, of course, yet their performance was apparently very good at the weekend and yet they didn’t score. Armstrong scored three, so that pressure grows.
“We’re not trying to pre-determine what Newcastle’s business is but they are maybe in the market for a centre-forward to help them stay in the Premier League and if they find that signing in the next week or so, potentially, they might make Adam’s continuation at Coventry more concrete.
“But at this moment in time I don’t feel as if they need to make any announcements as they try to hopefully strengthen their squad if they can.”
More on this - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/championship-clubs-sniffing-around-newcastle-10701778