Anthony Gordon could not have been clearer. Just a few days after his making a blah, blah, blah gesture, following his goal against Liverpool, the Newcastle United forward doubled down.

"I've heard so much talk this year about where I'm going, where I want to go without anyone actually asking me," the Scouser told Sky Sports last month. "Just leave me to play football.

"I just want to play football, especially for Newcastle...all I have heard is, 'When am I leaving?' Who said I was ever going to leave? I'm very happy here. I love this place. I love playing football here."

READ MORE: Newcastle United's lightning-quick teen, next Miley brother and goal machines who can save millions

READ MORE: Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer 'doesn't sit easy' as Aston Villa's £135m proposal blocked

Not everyone has got the message, though. Dietmar Hamman 'loves watching' Gordon and the German is keeping an eye on forwards 'who can influence games' as Mohamed Salah enters the final months of his contract at Liverpool.

"He's certainly another player Liverpool are looking at," the former Liverpool and Newcastle midfielder said. "If he did grow up supporting Liverpool, people in England are very connected to their first clubs and I know that from having players at Liverpool who were Everton fans growing up. When it comes to transfers, it could be a deciding factor."

It did not prove a deciding factor last summer, of course. Newcastle held talks with Liverpool, as the Magpies desperately scrambled to raise funds to avoid a PSR breach, but it is rather telling that Gordon has since signed a new long-term contract, which the 23-year-old 'intends to see out'.

Paul Mitchell said retaining players like Gordon is an 'essential part of building towards sustainable success' for Newcastle and the Magpies' sporting director insisted that the England international has a 'big part to play as we strive to reach our ambitious targets'. Mitchell has been among those senior figures who have stressed Newcastle never want to find themselves in the vulnerable position they were in back in June when the black-and-whites sat around the table with Liverpool. That is why Mitchell has, ironically, cited Liverpool as an example to follow as Newcastle look to become better traders moving forward.

"Sometimes I think people get a bit confused with 'big clubs don't sell players, they just buy players from the smaller clubs,'" he explained a few months ago. "Liverpool have a sustainable model and I think there's a lot of good learnings in Liverpool's practices.

"Even this year, if you look, I don't think they lost a big one, but they did do a [Fabio] Carvalho at £20m and they did do the centre-back [Sepp van den Berg] at £20m. That's still £40m and then you can fund a big one 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 in the last two-and-a-half years."