Inside Newcastle United’s transfer team as Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell’s roles explained

Newcastle United are heading into their first January transfer window with Paul Mitchell as sporting director. Mitchell took over from Dan Ashworth as sporting director in early-July, less than a week after they were forced into sanctioning the sales of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson in order to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

Lloyd Kelly, Will Osula, John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos joined the club, but the overall feeling was that they had had an underwhelming window. And following a January that saw them sign no senior first-team player - that was not an ideal follow-up.

This upcoming winter window offers the club a chance to strengthen, however, with the club set-up better both behind the scenes and on the pitch to really attack the transfer market.

Eddie Howe’s role

Howe, like most managers-stroke-head coaches, will have the final say on who the club signs. Players will be found by the scouting department and recommended to him, but ultimately Howe will get the final call on whether to sanction any deal or not.

He has previously admitted that the club have held small internal discussions over recruitment this window, but over such a busy festive period the focus has been on matters on the pitch. Talk over January transfers will ramp up in the very near future though.

Paul Mitchell’s role

Unlike in summer where Mitchell took a back seat as he got his feet under the table at his new club, however, this time around, he will take a much more proactive approach. Mitchell’s role will involve both signing and selling players with a whole host of key decisions to make.

In an ideal and PSR free world, Newcastle United would capitalise on the momentum built on the field by strengthening off it and give Howe all the tools to succeed and get them back to Champions League qualification. However, the reality means they will have to sell and Mitchell will be at the forefront of that to raise funds and then spend them well.