It was rather telling that Matias Fernandez-Pardo was Newcastle United's final signing of a rollercoaster summer. This was a pursuit which was anything but straightforward. The Belgian had been Newcastle's top target before the window opened, but it was only in the final stages of the summer that the club were able to complete a complex deal following delicate negotiations with Lille.
It was ultimately a tale of two very different forwards on deadline day. On the same afternoon Newcastle announced the rapid Fernandez-Pardo's arrival, towering club-record signing Nick Woltemade finalised his loan move to Juventus. Woltemade only joined Newcastle last summer, but this has been a window of change on Tyneside.
Head coach Eddie Howe stepped down in July and was replaced by Matthias Jaissle just a few weeks before the start of the new campaign. Captain Bruno Guimaraes was among a handful of key players to leave while eight new signings arrived as Newcastle's records for spending and sales in a single window were both smashed. This was the summer which altered the face of the club.
A shake-up had been signposted as far back as the spring. It was in early April when Newcastle announced that defender Kieran Trippier would be leaving at the end of his contract. The 34-year-old was approaching the twilight of his career, but his departure was still keenly felt as an influential figure behind the scenes.
"It was emotional for me, of course, because I loved the club so much and Newcastle gave me so much in return," the former England international said several months after moving on to Wolves. "I'll always follow the club and want them to do well but, as a footballer, sometimes, you have to move on. With the utmost respect, I think it was the right time for both the club and myself.
"As I've always said, I wanted to leave in the right manner and show respect to my team-mates, the club and, most importantly, the supporters, who I have a great relationship with." Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali's subsequent exits to Barcelona and Tottenham respectively did not necessarily come as a surprise, either, given they enabled Newcastle to comply and reinvest within the game's financial rules. No-one internally had countenanced losing talisman Guimaraes, though. However, having bailed Newcastle out so many times before, even the tireless midfielder dropped to the turf, untied his boots before the physio reached him and glared at the bench to come off during last season's final-day defeat at Fulham.
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