‘Look at what…’ - Paul Mitchell names controversial Premier League rival that Newcastle United will copy

Paul Mitchell believes Liverpool’s summer business should be the blueprint for how Newcastle United trade players.

The Reds came under criticism but made two late signings - Federico Chiesa and Giorgi Mamardashvili - late in the window. However, Mitchell was discussing how Liverpool sold unwanted players to fund new arrivals.

Anfield chiefs made a £5million profit in the window despite strengthening the first-team squad. Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg were dubbed surplus to requirements and joined Brentford for a reported £55million.

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This allowed Arne Slot the chance to reshuffle the pack, with a top young goalkeeper - still at Valencia until 2025 - and experienced wideman joining the club. Meanwhile, the Magpies have been unable to recoup significant transfer fees in recent years.

Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh were reluctantly sold for a combined £68million to comply with FFP/PSR restrictions on June 30. But as for those not wanted on Tyneside, moving them on has proven difficult.

Newcastle sporting director Mitchell outlined the club’s plan to trade players efficiently - name-checking Liverpool’s recent window. He told reporters: "We've got to balance out the aggregate because, at the moment, it's like 100 to 0 and we've got to find our position in the market where both of them attribute and feed each other.

“Every other club does that. Sometimes I think people get a bit confused with 'big clubs don't sell players, they just buy players from the smaller clubs'. There's a lot of good learnings in Liverpool's practices. Even this year if you look what Liverpool did.

“I don't think they lost a big one, but they did do a (Fabio) Carvalho at £25million and they did do the centre-back (Van den Berg) at £25million. That's still £50million and then you can fund a big one (transfer) yourself. So there has to be a more balanced approach, there has to be a more balanced model and there definitely has to be a more strategic approach here that we haven't had the last two-and-a-half years.”