Newcastle's summer of frustration - what's going on?

"A big summer."

Manager Eddie Howe was not the only senior figure behind the scenes at Newcastle United to utter those words before the summer transfer window opened.

The club may have ended a long wait for silverware and qualified for the Champions League, but the importance of this window was not lost on anyone.

And it has been big - but for frustrating reasons.

Newcastle have lost out on a host of targets. Alexander Isak has been subject of a bid from Liverpool. It looks possible that Manchester United could sign their main striker target Benjamin Sesko, after Liverpool snatched away Hugo Ekitike in July.

On top of all that there has been upheaval behind the scenes.

Now the club face a race against time to strengthen their squad and calm any fears with the season starting and window closing in the coming weeks.

Howe had not long touched down for his end-of-season holiday.

In fact, the head coach was just a couple of days into his break when sporting director Paul Mitchell left the club back in May.

Although their were initial tensions between Howe and Mitchell over how they worked together, it was rather telling that Howe recognised how such a figure "protects the manager from a lot of things".

CEO Darren Eales handed in his noticed last autumn because of a serious health problem. His replacement has not yet been announced.

All this came after the the departures of co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi last summer.

It has been far from ideal and has meant that, as well as preparing the team for the new season, Howe has also found himself at the coalface alongside head of recruitment Steve Nickson and his nephew, assistant Andy Howe.

Newcastle have since signed Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest and Aaron Ramsdale on loan from Southampton, but the Magpies face a race against time to recruit a centre-back, central midfielder and at least one striker before the window shuts on September 1 – let alone before the season starts next week.

The richest club in the world? It was a tag that was never accurate. Not in a profit and sustainability (PSR) world, despite having the wealthiest owners.

Newcastle may be backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund - known as its Public Investment Fund - and the Reuben family, but the Magpies' income streams still pale in comparison to the established order.

For context, Arsenal (£327.8m), Chelsea (£337.8m), Manchester United (£364.7m), Liverpool (£386.1m) and Manchester City (£412.6m) splashed out more on wages than Newcastle generated in revenue (£320.3m) in Premier League clubs' most recently published accounts.

Why is that significant? Well, historically, in the top flight, the clubs with the biggest wage bills have tended to pick up the most points per game. It is one of the reasons why the so-called 'big six' were locked in for so long.

Whereas previous disruptors like Chelsea and Manchester City were able to blow their rivals out of the water with superior packages, before PSR rules were introduced in 2013, Newcastle are still operating within a tight wage structure.

PSR has also now gone further, with rules on commercial deals with companies linked to owners tightened.

Never more have these restrictions been more apparent than in the Isak saga.

This transfer has become a crossroads moment for the Newcastle project.

Despite the historic success on the field last season, the reality of their inability to compete with the top clubs financially means it is uncertain whether they can keep their top player.

Do Newcastle hold firm on Isak, who still has three years left on his contract, or do they sell up in the final weeks of the window?

Isak may have made it clear that he wanted to explore his options, but Newcastle delivered an emphatic response to Liverpool last week in rejecting the champions' £110m offer.

Liverpool are expected to return with an increased offer. It is going to be a fascinating plot in the remaining weeks of the transfer window.

What sort of message would Newcastle be sending by selling Isak at such a price to another Premier League side? What sort of precedent would it set?

How would Newcastle even go about replacing the Sweden star when the whole of Europe would see the black-and-whites coming? Captain Bruno Guimaraes was the first to admit that "you cannot find some players who have scored more than 20 goals in the Premier League".

However, is the situation beyond that point? Could Isak even be integrated back into the group?

While Newcastle stressed that the 25-year-old missed the club's pre-season tour with a minor thigh injury, and the striker then trained alone at former club Real Sociedad, Howe has since warned that "no player can expect to act poorly and train with the group as normal".

While there is the issue of holding on to their best player, Newcastle have found it hard to sign others and strengthen their squad more generally.

The club had a list of key targets for summer.

But they have faced intense competition for Sesko, Ekitike, Joao Pedro, James Trafford, Liam Delap and Dean Huijsen.

Except for Sesko at present, each of those players has signed for another club.

Some critics and fans have questioned whether the behind-the-scenes upheaval has played a role in the issues in the recruitment.

Goalkeeper Trafford's decision to rejoin Manchester City from Burnley after protracted talks with Newcastle over the fee was a blow.

Others have questioned whether the Saudi owners can realise their ambitions to compete with the elite.

But on the other hand, each of those transfers is unique. Manchester City, for example, had a buy-back clause for Trafford and the player held a strong desire to return there.

Other clubs' legacy of success has also been a factor.

Chelsea may have only finished three points above Newcastle last season, but Joao Pedro referenced growing up watching the Blues win titles.

Manchester United believe Sesko is keen on a move to Old Trafford – despite the Red Devils enduring their worst Premier League season in history.

All in all it is a complicated picture few could have imagined 73 days ago when Newcastle qualified for the Champions League on the final day of the season.