Alan Shearer & Eddie Howe in Newcastle United agreement after two behind the scenes exits

Several players were linked with moves away before June 30 as the Magpies risked breaching Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Bruno Guimaraes had a £100million release clause while Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak attracted interest from Liverpool and Chelsea. The Magpies managed to keep hold of the trio and raised the funds needed by offloading Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh for a combined £68million to Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively.

Behind the scenes, United were rocked by a further two departures as Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi saw their shares acquired by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and RB Sports & Media at a 85%/15% split. That forced a restructure at the top of the club with Paul Mitchell arriving as sporting director and Darren Eales, who will step down as CEO in the coming months after being diagnosed with a chronic form of blood cancer, handed greater responsibility.

The summer transfer window then proved unsuccessful with Newcastle failing to sign £70million-rated Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi despite weeks of chasing. It meant Howe’s squad failed to welcome a significant signing. Sunday’s 2-1 lost at Chelsea extended Newcastle’s winless run in the Premier League to five matches, leaving them 12th in the table.

Shearer told the Rest is Football Podcast: "I've said it before about all the upheaval at the football club with what's gone on.. A new sporting director; the two shareholders, Amanda and Mehrdad leaving; Darren Eales, the chief executive, now leaving; and hardly a player coming in, which Eddie wanted, during the summer.

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"It's all been very messy for Newcastle the last three or four months and they have to get back to what got them that Champions League spot in the first place: the energy, the drive, being horrible to play against. I don't see too much of it."

Speaking ahead of the trip to Chelsea, Howe admitted his squad’s harmony has been knocked.

“I do think it was a difficult summer, as I've said, many times, for lots of different reasons,” said Howe. “It wasn't just one thing, it was a catalogue of things that were always going to make a difference.

“I always think when you're talking about players, it's very easy to go, 'Well, the players should be able to forget that and just focus on his football'. In an ideal world, yes, of course. But when you have multiple players affected by different things, It becomes harder and the general feel of the squad at the start the season was different to how it has been in previous years.

“Now my job and everyone's job connected with the club is to get sort of that focus absolutely back and the harmony back absolutely where it should be, but I think it's taking us longer than when he initially hoped."