The money is irrelevant – Eddie Howe on the process of making Newcastle signings

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has insisted the process of signing players is the same whether he is shopping in the bargain basement or at top-end stores.

The Magpies smashed their record transfer fee on Friday when they clinched a deal understood to amount to £58million for Real Sociedad’s 22-year-old Sweden international striker Alexander Isak, in the process taking their spending since the club’s new owners took up the reins to around £210million.

It is all a far cry from Howe’s early days at Bournemouth, when he operated on a shoestring budget and had to develop the players he already had, but he is adamant he still goes about recruitment in the same way.

Our new centre-forward.