Newcastle working on four lists as summer transfer plans step up - Report

There's no way to sugarcoat it: Newcastle United's transfer business last summer was poor. In fact, that might actually be sugarcoating it.

While Newcastle brought in £125 million on the sale of one player alone, it doesn't negate the fact that £250 million was spent, and the team somehow got worse.

There were huge mitigating factors at play, namely the fact that CEO Darren Eales was on sick leave and sporting director Paul Mitchell served the final week of his notice in the first week of the window, leaving transfers to Eddie Howe.

Newcastle missed out on so many of its top targets that by the time signings were made, they were players whose names were scribbled on the back pages of the books after the appendix. 

Excuses are excuses, though, and they won't wash with everybody. The club, however, is determined not to repeat the mistakes that were made last year.

Newcastle have a CEO and sporting director in place, and work has been ongoing for months to prepare for the summer. As reported in the iPaper, the work has stepped up a gear as the window approaches, and a much clearer plan is in place.

Newcastle have four key criteria for summer targets

The Magpies are casting a much wider net this time, having been criticised for relying far too much on Premier League-proven players in the past.

Premier League-proven players will still be looked at, but there are three other avenues that the club are considering, as Mark Douglas explains.

Writing for the iPaper, he said: 'Among the lists being prepared are: market opportunities (including free agents and players with little-known or time-sensitive release clauses), up-and-coming talent from European markets, “Premier League proven” and off-the-radar targets seen as having untapped potential.'

Bruno Guimaraes is probably the perfect example of a player who embodies the up-and-coming talent from Europe. He was building a reputation in France, but wasn't a 'household name' before he came to Newcastle.

No big name buys is the message

We may not see any huge outlays this summer, as one club insider has already cautioned that we won't see any 'showbiz signings' this summer, but that doesn't mean we won't sign familiar players if they fall into one of the aforementioned four categories.

It's about being smart this summer and avoiding being conned into paying huge fees when selling clubs can smell the desperation.

These parameters will also help fans to discern the validity of a transfer rumour when it arises. If it doesn't feel like it fits one of those categories, we can probably safely assume it's just paper talk.