Newcastle showing signs of hypocrisy in the transfer market?

The early knockings of the summer transfer window have been interesting to observe from a Newcastle United perspective.

Let me start by saying I am in no way panicking, as it's not even the middle of June yet in a window that nearly always hots up over July and August.

Eddie Howe did ask the club to strike early, saying 'speed is key' in a post-season press conference, but that isn't my main concern after missing out on Liam Delap to Chelsea and Bryan Mbeumo to Man Utd, it seems.

From the outside looking in, my confusion comes from the slightly hypocritical way we're trying to do business.

Without knowing exactly who is top of Newcastle's wanted list in goal, at centre-back, on the right wing and up front, widespread reports over the past week suggest James Trafford (Burnley), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest) and Joao Pedro (Brighton) are the current 'top targets' in each position.

All Premier League players between the age of 22 and 24, and with that comes a Premier League premium. We can talk about that 'Saudi tax' and extortionate asking prices, but Newcastle United are not the only club who will have to pay a premium to sign quality young players from this market, which is notorious for inflated fees, especially at this age bracket.

Expanding on this, both The Athletic and The Telegraph have reported this week that Newcastle 'will not be held to ransom' over clubs asking prices and could walk away from deals if the fees demanded don't drop.

I don't blame the club for negotiation tactics and wanting the best possible value in a summer where we must spend wisely to spread our budget across a goalkeeper, centre-back, right winger and striker. However, we can't shop in an inflated market, complain that prices are high and stopping us from striking early deals when we are taking the EXACT same approach when clubs come calling for our players.

Take Tino Livramento. We have every right to demand big money for the England full-back and Fabrizio Romano reported last week that Man City are having very little joy in their pursuit, with Newcastle's refusing to lower our sky-high asking price.

I'm sure the same would be true if Liverpool enquired about Anthony Gordon or if Arsenal had a look at Alexander Isak. If clubs want to sign some of your best players who are Premier League proven, young and under contract, big fees will be needed, as we know all too well.

Going back to who we're looking to sign, if we haven't got a whopping budget, despite a much-improved PSR position, and must shop carefully to strengthen four priorities positions, it seems naive and slightly hypocritical to believe Trafford, Elanga and Pedro will be sold at a price that suits us when Burnley, Forest and Brighton have every right to demand big money.

Guehi is a slightly different case now he's entering the final 12 months of his contract, but the same was true last summer when we spent all of August in talks with Crystal Palace.

I am not suggesting we should sack off all negotiating techniques and just pay the current asking price for all four, as that would set a dangerous precedent we've been trying to avoid since the takeover, but I do question the logic of targeting four premium Premier League talents if our valuation of each one is below their price tag.

We got there in the end with Tino Livramento (Southampton) and Anthony Gordon (Everton) to name a few previous domestic additions and we may be hoping to see prices drop later in the window if certain targets push for a move. But I do sometimes wonder why we aren't exploring the European market more considering our success with Bruno Guimaraes (Lyon) and Sven Botman (Lille) and the value for money both offered at £35-40m.

Although it is early days, we should know by now that Premier League targets won't be signed early and on our terms when we wouldn't dream of selling one of our own at a good price to a potential rival.