Newcastle United’s summer transfer window left an awful lot to be desired.
Having only narrowly avoided a ten-point deduction from the Premier League in June after selling Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh quickly to meet PSR rules, things never really got better from there.
There was a public pursuit of Marc Guehi that failed to come to fruition. Newcastle pulled out of proceedings during the closing stages of the transfer window despite a series of failed offers, leaving little time to source an alternative.
It has been a difficult start to life in the job for sporting director Paul Mitchell and some insight into his thoughts about the window has emerged.
How Paul Mitchell actually felt about the Marc Guehi saga at Newcastle
According to the Daily Mail, Mitchell was confident about doing a deal for Guehi and believed he enjoyed a good relationship with Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish.
Still, it’s believed that Mitchell was furious about what he believed was a moving of the goalposts by those at Selhurst Park, particularly when they upped their asking price to a total package of £75m after suffering an injury crisis.
Paul Mitchell is no doubt under pressure at Newcastle already
Judging Mitchell on one window and one that saw spending down across the Premier League as a whole feels unfair, even if it has obviously been hugely disappointing.
Still, he was a PIF appointment and, as such, will have to be judged by the owners more than anyone else.
It’s hard to imagine them making any rash judgements but few would doubt it’s been an inauspicious start to life at St James’ Park for Mitchell.
Things will hopefully improve as he settles into the job and signing players from monied Premier League rivals cannot be easy but Newcastle surely cannot afford another window like this one.
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