Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has warned the club's hierarchy that they must not fail to replace Chris Wood.
The striker is being let go to Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the season.
While Wood is not an automatic starter, Howe has relied on him this season.
Hopefully, we're planning to replace him," said Howe in a press conference.
Certainly, from my side, there was no thought of letting a player go and not replacing. I think that would leave us dangerously short of players. The last thing I want to do is leave ourselves light of players, because we are still in the Carabao Cup and have half a season to go.
But there is no guarantee with the short time we have left, and the very small pool of players available, that we will be able to make any signing. That is the difficult situation we now face."