Inside story of Newcastle's most traumatic transfer window ever: Futile targets, a bad back that nearly blew star signing, jaw-dropping full story of how close Yoane Wissa move came to deadline-day di

Shortly before 9pm on deadline day, Yoane Wissa stepped onto the terrace overlooking the training pitches at Newcastle United’s training ground. Under the early-autumn moonlight, he called his wife and children and they celebrated the sun rising on a new dawn.

But then, from inside the building, came screams and the sound of doors crashing open. ‘Yoane! Yoane! Yoane!’ howled a desperate echo through the corridors of the training centre.

There was still one more document he had to sign. It was 8.58pm. The extended deadline for submitting paperwork to the Premier League was 9pm. For Wissa, time stood still - he was a Brentford player.

The document was on a mobile phone. He scratched his signature on the screen. His representative, who had ‘sprinted for his life’ to find the striker, quickly explained the gravity of the situation. Meanwhile, the club’s administrative team uploaded the document and sent it to the Premier League.

Wissa was ‘nearly in tears’. His lawyer, representatives and club staff were, it is said, ‘f***ing nervous!’ Hearts raced and limbs trembled. Brentford chiefs, in west London, were just as panicked - they wanted their £50million.

At 8.59, the email was sent. At 8.59, the automated response of the Premier League recorded it as received. Yoane Wissa was a Newcastle player. ‘He celebrated like he’d won the Champions League!’ said one of those present.

Yoane Wissa was seconds away from having to head back to Brentford - and then the deal finally went through

Wissa is the signing those inside Newcastle are quietly elated about, having already adapted to the Premier League with 19 goals last season

A few moments later, an oblivious Eddie Howe FaceTimed his new No 9. That would have been a difficult call, had those tears of joy been stained by despair.

But here it was - the most chaotic, traumatic and frenzied transfer window in the history of Newcastle United, climaxing entirely on brand.

So, was this a good window for Newcastle? They have strengthened their squad but not the starting XI, again. They have lost their most valuable player and left behind seven points in August. They have been misled, mocked and manoeuvred. They have taken a kicking.

And yet, in the reflection of the window, is a manager and group of players with their fists now raised. They are mightily relieved to see it closed - and not just because it means an end to the Alexander Isak saga - but more so because of what has squeezed through. Only just, in the case of Wissa.

Six signings at an outlay of £240million (plus £21m in add-ons) have given a shallow squad a newfound depth. Two years ago, in their first Champions League campaign in two decades, Newcastle struggled to rotate, and finished bottom of their group. It was a costly season and they missed out on Europe. Stars such as Isak questioned the direction of the club on the back of it.

When those same players then returned to pre-season training this summer, and saw no new faces, the joke was to be expected: ‘When are we meeting all the new signings?’ A 4-0 defeat at Celtic smacked of a protest performance, even if on a subconscious level.

By the time I stood alongside Newcastle’s training pitch in Seoul two weeks later, there was still only one signing and no striker. I watched Howe, during one drill, encourage midfielders such as Bruno Guimaraes to break the lines and get himself clear on goal. It felt like Plan A, never mind Plan B.

So that they have arrived at this point with a new £125m strikeforce - the same British-record fee for which Isak joined Liverpool - is a victory which had, a week ago, threatened to be the most damaging of defeats.

Germany international Nick Woltemade (centre) is Newcastle's new club-record signing, having jetted in from Stuttgart for £69m

Newcastle pursued Jorgen Strand Larsen - but Wolves were never going to let go of him

The Wissa deal was beset by all manner of problems, including one delay when a member of Brentford’s negotiating hierarchy was hospitalised with a bad back. Their attempts to sign Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen were futile from the start, even though agents told them otherwise.

Every other target had either rejected them and joined another club, didn’t want to sign or was not available. Liam Delap and Joao Pedro joined Chelsea. Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo were off to Manchester United, and James Trafford ended up on the sky blue side of that city. Marc Guehi didn't go anywhere, eventually, but was minutes from joining Isak at Liverpool.

And so, as if under the cover of darkness, they raided Germany for Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade in a deal that took 48 hours to finalise. His camp, interestingly, were told that Isak would be going.

Woltemade, at a club-record £69m, is exciting and loaded with potential at 23 years old, but it is the arrival of Wissa that insiders believe is the most important of all, even though there is an acceptance they have overpaid.even though there is an acceptance they have overpaid.

You only have to look at Sesko’s early performances in Manchester to realise that a period of adaptation is needed for a young man from the Bundesliga. The Slovenian looks like he wants the ground to swallow him whole.

Were Newcastle to have asked Woltemade to carry their goalscoring burden alone, he too could have looked like a rabbit beneath the floodlights. Wissa, who scored 19 Premier League goals last season, will hit the ground running and, with it, the ball in the net. At least, that is the plan for Howe and his staff.

If it plays out, a lot of what has gone before this summer will be forgotten. But it should not. They have got away with it. Their strategy and execution left them at the cliff-edge with less than a week of the window to go, and the club as much as Isak are to blame for those lost points in the opening three games.

For that, the ownership have a lot to answer for. The name above the door is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Open the door, however, and they are nowhere to be seen, at least by way of a tangible, on-the-ground presence.

I have spent time with some of those from PIF this summer and have asked the question - where are you?

The Saudi owners, and principally Yasir Al Rumayyan, need to show they mean business with Newcastle

Newcastle had looked into signing Joao Pedro and Liam Delap - but both ended up at Chelsea

The footballing side of the operation, headed by Eddie Howe and assistant coach Jason Tindall, have worked wonders - but how long can they mask off-field failings?

They say that a team of 30 is responsible for the Newcastle arm of their portfolio, but they are mainly based in Riyadh and juggle that commitment with other investments. PIF’s modus operandi is to install a management team and let them run the business on a day-to-day basis.

OK, then, where are they? Entering one of the most pivotal summers in the club’s history, Newcastle did not have a sporting director or chief executive. That is on PIF. Still, to this day, they have neither.

Those left behind - Howe, his staff and his recruitment chief nephew, Andy - have gathered the broken shards of Paul Mitchell’s reign as sporting director and made a window with a decent enough view.

But to pull down the shutters and believe that all is OK would be negligent. PIF need to take control of their investment and change the perception of them as increasingly absent owners. Whether true or not, that is how it looks and how it has felt for too long now. It does not help when negotiating with rival clubs.

PIF’s ‘processes’ can, for many, be translated as indecision and delay. Staff joke about even the sign-off of lights, paint and grass seeds needing to go back to Riyadh.

It has meant that the footballing department has pulled clear down the road in the isolation of their work at the training ground, the upshot being a first domestic trophy in 70 years and Champions League football. But this summer they were very nearly jack-knifed into a ditch. It is only because of an agent’s fast feet that they did not spin out of control on the final bend.

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