Newcastle United chairman Chris Mort admits they want to boost the quality of their young players.

"Our minds are already turned to who we might bring in and, in an ideal world, we'd like the focus to be on bringing in players that we can develop over the long term," he told North East Magazine.

"We've half an eye, not specifically on January, but on how we take the club forward over the years to come.

"Whilst our first major priority was to make sure we sorted out the first-team squad and had a squad capable of competing in the Premiership, we want to bring in some younger players of all kinds of age groups.

"We haven't set Sam a target of what position we want to end up in or what we want out of this season, but Sam and myself are working hard to get the squad into good shape and get a sense that we are moving in the right direction."