Newcastle United weren't the only Premier League club to endure a quiet January transfer window, as the majority of their top flight counterparts also opted to do minimal business during the winter market. And if you want to see just how unusual the recent trading period was, you only have to look at the fact Manchester City's spend for the month was greater than the other 19 clubs' £177m outlay combined.

Pep Guardiola's side are currently level on points with Newcastle, keeping them out of the top four on goal difference alone. But as Eddie Howe prepares to leapfrog the struggling champions, he must do so having brought no fresh faces to Tyneside, while City spent £180m on new blood to get their flailing season back on track.

"Financially we are stable from last seasons, now we are in net profit for the past five seasons," Guardiola explained last week. “Financially the club has moved well in the last five years, in terms of sales and players making an incredible performance to win what we won.”

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City have hit the panic button with the arrivals of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and a deadline day swoop for Nico Gonzalez. However, it can't be said the Abu-Dhabi-backed club can't afford to splash the cash.

The Etihad side reported record revenue of £715m in the club's annual report for 2023/24, which was £53m higher than second-placed Manchester United's £662m. City made £73m profit for the 2023/24 accounting year, bringing in £139m on transfers by selling the likes of academy graduate Cole Palmer, while also losing Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez to Saudi Arabian clubs.

City may have blown their rivals out of the water with their spending power in recent weeks but they are not the only Champions League-chasing side to strengthen either. Aston Villa, currently sitting in eighth just four points behind Newcastle, used their Jhon Duran funds to take hefty punts on high-profile swoops for Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford.

Manchester United spent £30m on Patrick Dorgu from Lecce, while Bournemouth also brought in five new faces and one returning loanee. However, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all found themselves in a familiar place to that of Newcastle's, however, as the trio also opted to keep their powder dry.

Asked about whether he was frustrated over a lack of late, incoming arrivals, Howe said: "No, I don't think frustrated is the right word. We had been planning and looking at numbers and opportunities for weeks and weeks and weeks.

"Frustrated yesterday? No. That (losing Kelly and Almiron) was a long time in making, it ended how we expected it to at the start. So different emotions for me. I think overall an element of frustration because we have not taken the squad forward in a positive way."

Howe and Newcastle must now navigate a tricky end to the season with a depleted squad before assessing just how much headroom the club have when the summer transfer window rolls around in June.