Bryan Mbeumo is a target for Newcastle
Having announced that sporting director Paul Mitchell will leave at the end of June, the Newcastle hierarchy are under pressure to deliver for manager Eddie Howe in the upcoming transfer window.
Shortlists have been drawn up, top targets have been identified, a budget has been decided and everything, according to one well-placed source, is “good to go”.
They added: “Everything is in place, all the work that has been done on players has been finished and now we have to push the button and get those deals done. We know who we want.”
Despite the upheaval of a second sporting director leaving in the space of 18 months following Mitchell’s decision to walk away, there is a “business as usual” attitude behind the scenes.
Indeed, Mitchell is determined to make at least one key signing before he steps down in four weeks, especially as he has not made a first-team signing in the 10 months he has been in charge of recruitment.
Speed is now of the essence, particularly as Newcastle are likely to face competition for the players they have identified as leading targets.
Newcastle failed in an attempt to sign Guehi last year after a long and protracted pursuit, but have always remained interested in the player and will look to begin negotiations with Palace imminently.
The England international is precisely the sort of ball-playing centre-back Howe has needed for the last two years and it will not be an easy transfer to conclude, especially as Palace have qualified for Europe next season by winning the FA Cup.
But Guehi, 24, is moving into the final year of his contract at Selhurst Park and Newcastle will look to make him one of their first signings in an ambitious summer. Newcastle will not reach the £65m asking price they were quoted 11 months ago, but hope a compromise can be reached.
Brentford winger Mbeumo is also a long-standing target and Telegraph Sport revealed last month that the North East club would make a move for the Cameroon international. A fee between £50m to £60m would seem realistic.
Manchester United have also expressed an interest in the 25-year-old, but they are currently focused on the signing of Wolves’ Matheus Cunha, so if Newcastle can move swiftly and agree a price with Brentford, they should be in pole position.
A right-sided forward and a centre-back have been the two more pressing positions to fill for the last couple of years on Tyneside and it would make sense to address them early in this window. A goalkeeper, a striker to play alongside Alexander Isak and possibly another central midfield player if one is sold this summer − Sean Longstaff is expected to leave his home-town club − are the other positions Newcastle would like to strengthen.
The worry is, with Mitchell leaving and former co-owner Amanda Staveley no longer at the club, who is going to negotiate the deals to bring in the quality of player Howe needs to prepare for Champions League football again next season?
When asked about transfers last weekend, Howe stressed that they have to be in a position to move quickly.
“Speed is key for us,” said Howe. “I’ve reiterated that many times internally. Speed is key because we have to be dynamic, we have to be ready to conclude things very, very quickly because good players don’t hang around for long.
“That’s always been my thought and my message on recruitment because you can have a period where you think you’ve got time, but then you can look around very quickly and realise that that time has elapsed and you have missed opportunities that you won’t get again.
“That’s what we’ll be trying, but obviously the reality of that is it’s not always in your hands. But we’ll be doing our best to do things early.”
Although Howe and Mitchell initially clashed last summer, the two men have forged a decent working relationship since and the Newcastle manager will push for a new sporting director to be appointed as soon as possible as he feels it is vital.
Internally, there is no sense that Howe has won a power struggle that has forced Mitchell out, although the former Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco sporting director has not had the impact he would have liked in his short time at the club as concerns about profit and sustainability rules blocked his attempts to recruit.
He would like to remedy that before he leaves this summer and has been heavily involved in the identification of targets alongside Howe, his nephew Andy and head of recruitment Steve Nickson.