'Eddie's even more demanding of his staff' - Newcastle's transfer bonus and target left gutted

It was a very different deadline day for Newcastle United. It was a very different transfer window full stop as the club actually showed some ambition.

Last summer's deadline day was a non-event - as was so often the case in the Ashley era - and the Magpies briefed that they had no plans to make any further signings at 10.50am on August 31. Even signing Hamza Choudhury on loan was a bridge too far and Joe Willock was, ultimately, the only addition Newcastle made in either window in 2021.

In contrast, by 10.50am on Monday, Newcastle's new owners were closing deals for Dan Burn and Matt Targett and attempting to sign an attacker after already bringing in Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood earlier in the window.

Newcastle ultimately failed to resurrect moves for Hugo Ekitike and Jesse Lingard on deadline day, and the Magpies also missed out on top defensive targets Sven Botman and Diego Carlos during the course of a challenging window, but the club's renewed intent cannot be questioned.

Having not originally planned to invest huge sums in the mid-season window, the new owners splashed out around £90m - more than any other club in world football. Crucially, the hierarchy look to have made that leaky defence stronger - even if Newcastle still look a little light in the final third.

Most importantly, Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Jamie Reuben have understood the need to bring in the right signings and it is not a coincidence that all bar one of the new arrivals already have vast experience of playing in the Premier League.

Intermediaries and agents have floated an endless list of big-name imports to the club's owners since the takeover was completed last October, but bringing in the