The position Newcastle United will look to strengthen in the January transfer window

The strike duo have played just eight minutes of Premier League football this season with the Magpies winning just one game all campaign.

And, as a result, the club’s hierarchy could sanction a move for another striker when the winter transfer window opens.

Yussuf Poulsen, of RB Leipzig, is on the club’s radar, while Rony Lopes, of Sevilla, is a player Magpies chiefs have been monitoring for some time.

Frontman Joelinton – a £35million summer capture from the Bundesliga – has so far struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League, as well as being starved of service. The Brazilian has just one goal.

Fellow forwards Allan Saint-Maximin has been in and out with injury, while Miguel Almiron is goalless this season and last.

And while Carroll made his long-awaited return from injury at the weekend, following a career-saving ankle operation, he is still a little way off starting, although reports of him not being in the first-team XI until 2020 have been played down.

Gayle’s return from a calf issue is edging closer – he will be back on the club’s Benton training pitches this week – but he will not be fit enough to be involved on the pitch for at least another three weeks.

Injuries have followed Gayle around in recent years. Even at the height of his powers at St James’s Park – in the Championship promotion season – the striker struggled with hamstring problems.

Gayle is wanted by West Brom after a successful loan spell last season.

Elias Sorensen’s long-term future also hangs in the balance with the 20-year-old having flopped so far at Carlisle United – the player’s second failed Football League loan spell.