Newcastle had set out to do business early.
But it got to the point where they could have put together an almighty five-a-side team of targets who went elsewhere.
It is understood that James Trafford, for instance, was “super excited” about the prospect of joining Newcastle, only for talks to become protracted with Burnley over the fee.
Manchester City went on to activate their buyback clause and matched Newcastle’s offer for their former goalkeeper, who chose to return to Etihad Stadium.
A theme started to develop.
Although Benjamin Sesko’s camp had “big respect” for Newcastle, and considered them a “great club with great people”, those closest to the striker previously did not feel it was the “right moment” to move to St James’ Park when the club first showed an interest in 2022.
History repeated itself once again last month when Sesko opted to join what he called a “historical club” in Manchester United.
Newcastle have their own tradition, of course, but they encountered a challenge going up against the established order for such players in the opening months of the window.
As well as the legacy factor – another target, Joao Pedro, cited growing up watching Chelsea winning titles – these clubs have superior income streams.
Manchester United (£364.7m) and Chelsea (£337.8m) were among five Premier League sides who splashed out more on salaries than Newcastle generated in revenue (£320.3m) in their most recently published accounts from 2023-24.
Newcastle had the eighth-largest wage bill in the same period and, after suffering a number of setbacks this summer, the club became even more determined to recruit players who were “desperate” to move.
It was noted how some of Newcastle’s most successful signings under Howe fitted that description, including Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes, who arrived when the club were in deep relegation trouble in 2022.
Three of Newcastle’s most expensive additions this summer – Woltemade, Wissa and Anthony Elanga – did not think twice once they learned of the club’s interest.
Malick Thiaw also did not require much convincing to follow in the footsteps of Sandro Tonali and leave AC Milan for Newcastle.
Germany defender Thiaw had been in a training camp in the Lake District a few weeks before his £35m move went through when the subject of Newcastle came up.
Paul Winsper, a high performance consultant, who previously worked for Newcastle, was on hand to offer his thoughts.
“We all stayed in the same house,” Winsper said. “We joked about it – ‘Come on. Join Newcastle!’
“He asked, ‘What’s it like?’ I said, ‘Amazing.’
“I lived in the US for 16 years and I had always had this yearning to come back to the North East and be back in my roots.
“It was great to be able to sell the North East a little bit to Malick and let him know what an amazing place it is. I later got a text from him saying, ‘It’s done. I’m in.'”
