Paul Mitchell's inside track on Yasir Al-Rumayyan crunch talks after Newcastle United summer transfer window

The meeting took place on the day of Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park on Sunday with Al Rumayyan in attendance for the first time since Mitchell’s appointment as sporting director in the summer.

The United chairman’s arrival comes after a difficult summer for the club which saw key figures in Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi depart, the club pressured to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to help comply with PSR and a major signing fail to be made. The summer has raised questions about the club’s ownership and ambition moving forward due to a perceived lack of investment over the last two transfer windows.

But after meeting with Al-Rumayyan, Mitchell was under no illusions to how ambitious the club remain, albeit in a more restrictive context.

"We spent pre-match together in the chairman's lounge chatting about loads of different things, getting to know each other personally,” Mitchell explained. “We watched the game together and, after the game, we had a good catch up, a bit more formally just in terms of the vision and the plan. He's super ambitious.”

“I have a few more grey hairs because of the level of ambition that we actually have! [Al-Rumayyan] is as ambitious and enthused as ever.

“I only know from my interaction - I can't speak for anyone else - but he's super ambitious and he wants us to perform at the number one level. He wants us to perform not only through the money we spend - he wants us to be best in class across everything we do, whether that be youth development, the women's team, scouting and recruitment, data and insight, coaching, innovation.

“He wants our position to be at the top, but to be there for the reasons that people admire as a really well-oiled, well-executed machine of a football operation. That for me came across in his message."

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Both Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell have pointed to the constraints of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules as a reason why the club have struggled to strengthen and invest in the same manner as previous transfer windows since the takeover.

"He's a smart man,” Mitchell added on Al-Rumayyan. “I think he can see that the club is growing, but he's smart enough to know it's moved very quickly over a very short period of time.

“He knows infrastructure is important. He knows people's IPs are important. He knows a higher overarching framework and strategy is crucial to get to where we want to get to. Using terminology like that shows there's a plan and patience. You have got to then deliver and execute across that plan and timescale, but he's a very intelligent owner with what I received on Sunday when we spoke."

Al-Rumayyan famously said on the We Are <Newcastle United documentary that the club’s ambition is to be ‘number one’.

And that message hasn’t changed: “Deep down, don't we all want to be number one at some point? I don't think there's a bigger target.

“Having that as an ambition is not a bad thing because it drives us every day to be better. We need to work towards being number one.

“Does he want us to be number one? Yes. Should we be scared of ambition? No.

“Should we thrive and challenge ourselves to get there? It's not just number one on a podium in the Premier League or the Champions League. It's number one in every department.

“That's what I've learnt and what we probably haven't expressed well enough. We want to be best in class in everything we do and that's a great challenge. Is it one of those things where we need to be number one and if we don't get there tomorrow? No. He's smarter than that.

“This is a longer-term investment than being number one tomorrow. This is best in class, being number one in everything we do, and those drivers will get us there."