Newcastle United will hold key strategic meetings over the international break as the club start planning for the next two transfer windows - regardless of any potential rule changes caused by Manchester City's civil war with the Premier League.

Chronicle Live understands that sporting director Paul Mitchell has already taken a deep delve into the club's transfer targets with tweaks made to fit into his own football philosophy. Mitchell will lead the scouting network building up to the January window with Newcastle chiefs set to inject funds into the recruitment kitty this winter.

United still have £70million untouched from the failed Marc Guehi deal in the summer and while a return for the England international can't be ruled out, there will be extra funds on top of the money for the 24-year-old if Newcastle want to do business in January. Guehi's contract runs out in summer 2026 and his representatives are keen for answers after it was felt that Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish moved the goalposts during the last window and denied him a dream move.

The club's transfer committee - which includes both Mitchell and Eddie Howe - will report to PIF in the coming weeks with news on targets. Guehi's name will come up again during the discussions but there are other centre-back options with targets in Spain, France and Italy all looked at.

Newcastle could not spend in the last January window due to PSR constraints and the summer saw restricted movement in the window with just £15million spent on William Osula and a staggered deal for Odysseas Vlachodimos worth £20m breaking into club coffers. However, the Guehi pursuit showed that there was more money to spend and that will be the case in January if the right deals come along.

Mitchell has his own ideas with targets interesting him from Germany and France but Howe has already spoken about a "collaboration" when it comes to recruitment. There were teething problems between Howe and Mitchell at the start of the summer when the head coach went public about "boundaries" between the sporting director's staff and Howe's own backroom team.

But Chronicle Live understands that both PIF and internal board members at Newcastle are satisfied that things have settled down behind the scenes and the plan is now to push forward. Those close to Howe have indicated that it is imperative that there is no interference from those outside the backroom team when it comes to playing style.

Getting it right on transfers is the next step for the Magpies and the dust is settling after Mitchell's comments that the scouting network wasn't fit for purpose. Given Howe's nephew Andy is second in command on scouting behind head of recruitment Steve Nickson, the remarks were inevitably going to have an impact with staff.

Howe defended signings such as Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak when he said last month: "I’m very, very proud of those signings and I’ve said all along - and I don’t want to make it about old and new structure - but those signings I played a huge part in.

“I took ownership of all those signings, whether they were good, bad, I’ll take ownership of that as ultimately I was the final decision maker on those signings.

“I was very proud to sign those players and I think they’ve been brilliant signings for where we were and the very long-term future of the club and I really believed in them and still do. I’d certainly like to find a few more of them. The key thing now is the future and I’m sure we can get future transfer windows right as ultimately that is the most important thing at any club because to be successful you have to recruit well.”

Howe has previously insisted that the concerns behind the scenes have never been about him having the final say on transfers. He said in July to Chronicle Live: "It is not about having a final say it is about collaboration.

"We have had positive talks and we are trying to bring the right players to the football club. But it is never about one person's decision. And neither should it be. It is about a group of people coming together and making the right decisions all for the benefit of the football club."

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