Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales admitted last summer that the Magpies must become better at trading in the transfer market. It appears, however, that Newcastle are still finding it difficult to do outgoing business.

There is a distinct lack of value out there when it comes to selling on Toon stars. This is the market United are operating in this month, with any new signings on hold.

Operating in a world in which Eddie Howe admits nobody wants to do Newcastle 'any favours', it's not easy being the club that are deemed the richest in the world. Given that the Premier League's PSR rulebook has already got Newcastle chiefs wrapped in chains as they look to complete a second consecutive barren January window, it feels like even getting value for money in terms of outgoing deals is also an issue at St James' Park.

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This January, Newcastle have managed to scrape a paltry loan fee for Isaac Hayden with the midfielder heading to Portsmouth on loan with 18 months left on his contract. Since Eddie Howe arrived in 2021/22 it has been clear Hayden has no future but no cash fee has been landed for his services and he could yet leave for free in 2026.

Newcastle sold Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh for a combined sale of £65million but in a week in which rivals Aston Villa are getting ready to offload Jhon Duran, who they paid £18m for in 2023, for £58m to Al Nassr, Newcastle are set to bank a fee that will eventually add up to £11m for Miguel Almiron to Atlanta United.

Eales had said in the summer that Newcastle needed to "trade better" after previously saying in January of last year that the work done by Villa - again - and Liverpool should be looked at. He could have used Chelsea as a model too, given their propensity for selling fringe players for serious money.

Eales said: "If you are churning players you create more headroom. We have seen lots of examples of this elsewhere. [Philippe] Coutinho at Liverpool and they brought in Allison and Virgil Van Dijk. [Jack] Grealish going from Aston Villa and they have reinvested and reloaded.

"Declan Rice at West Ham, it's just the nature of the beast. If you trade players on it creates more headroom. You have to keep growing that headroom, increasing commercial revenue and player trading."

Eales also stated the importance of selling players as the club look ahead to future windows. He said back then: "Under FFP, if you sell a £50m player and bring in an identical one on £50m and the same wages, but amortise over the five years the player you are bringing in, that's only £10m a year so you are creating £40m of headroom."

Newcastle obviously aren't interested in selling the superstars of their side such Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon or Bruno Guimaraes - especially with Champions League qualification within reach. Making such a drastic sale and costing themselves the riches of Europe's premier competition won't be considered.

But offloading fringe squad members feels like Newcastle's real challenge again as they head into the final few days of the window. The likes of Matt Targett, Sean Longstaff and Odysseas Vlachodimos have all been linked with moves without a sale so far.

In previous windows, Jamal Lewis has had two loan spells at Sao Paulo and Watford without being sold, and Newcastle released Ryan Fraser for no fee in the summer as he joined Southampton with almost a full season left on his existing deal.