It was only one word, but it carried huge significance. When asked if every player had a price, little more than a year ago, Darren Eales concurred. "Correct," the Newcastle United CEO admitted.
Eales was only being honest. The full extent of the club's alarming PSR issues were not known externally at the time. These were issues which led to Newcastle holding talks with Liverpool about Anthony Gordon at the 11th hour last June - before the Magpies secured the required funds through the sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to avoid a breach and points deduction.
No one at the club wants to be in that situation again and Newcastle approach the upcoming summer window in better health having announced club-record revenues of £320.3m and a dramatic drop in losses. No wonder Eales struck a very different tone on Tuesday.
"We're in a position now where because of the fact we were able to move a couple of players in January that weren't really impacting on minutes on the pitch, we've got that wish and desire to keep our key players," he told reporters. "They're all under long-term contracts.
"So from that perspective, we have no intention at all of those players being moved on and we're not under the gun or anything like that. We've got an ownership that is ambitious and wants the best for the club. So, from that perspective, it would be crazy for us to consider it."
Those comments felt timely on an afternoon PSG were the latest club linked with a move for Alexander Isak in the French media despite Newcastle being under no pressure to sell a player who still has more than three years left on his contract. In fact, rather than lose Isak, Newcastle plan to sit down with the 25-year-old at the end of the season to discuss a new deal. That should not come as a surprise.
For context, only Mohamed Salah has scored more goals in the Premier League since the start of December and football finance expert Kieran Maguire even previously told ChronicleLive how tying down the striker would be the 'equivalent of signing a £100m player'. This is a star Newcastle want to build a side around - even if the message has not appeared to quite get through to one or two pundits who have talked up moves to Arsenal and Liverpool.
"You would rather have people talking about players than not in the sense we know he is a world-class player and he is somebody, obviously, other clubs would covet because he is an incredible player," Eales added. "You see it in his all-round game. He is not just a great finisher with some of the things he does. I still think back to his assist at Everton. He has the ability to do that.
"It [the speculation] is part and parcel of the world we live in, but it is frustrating. It is part of what football is.
"Everybody wants to have a story and talk about it but when you think about the growth of Newcastle, we have the ambition to be a top club. There is a sense of annoyance as we are almost seen as the next category down and it is fair game to talk about our players, but we are striving as a club to be at the top table and we want our best players here. To be honest, it shows the value Isak has that they talk about him all the time.”
