Newcastle United’s transfer window has yet to fully ignite as the club looks to bring in four big signings to strengthen Eddie Howe’s squad.

Antonio Cordero’s arrival from Malaga was welcome news but the Spanish youngster will be immediately farmed out on loan to get more experience.

Sporting director Paul Mitchell played a key role in that signing, but is set to depart in three weeks.

Mitchell, who has only been in situ at St James’ Park for a year, announced his resignation at the end of the season.

It leaves Newcastle potentially working the majority of a huge transfer window with no sporting director, while chief executive Darren Eales is also set to leave the club, standing down after health issues.

Newcastle have spoken with ex-Real Madrid man David Hopkinson as a potential replacement but finding someone to take on Mitchell’s role is likely to go on for a while.

Newcastle remain confident that it will have no impact on the transfer window and fans are split over concerns over the situation.

Our team of writers have their say over Mitchell’s exit and the timing.

Ciaran Kelly I think Newcastle United will manage in the short-term.

Newcastle’s plans for the summer are already in place and, as Paul Mitchell said, himself, the club are in ‘great hands on and off the pitch’.

However, this was certainly not part of the plan when Mitchell arrived with a heavyweight reputation last summer and talked about taking Newcastle to ‘their ambition in five years’ time’.

That would be the concern, for me.

The best clubs have that stability at boardroom level and a club of this size needs a sporting director or a technical director to help set a medium to long-term strategy and to then actually stay long enough to see their vision through moving forward.

That has not happened at Newcastle after Dan Ashworth wanted to leave little more than 18 months after his appointment while successor Mitchell will only last a year in the job.

Aaron Stokes At the risk of repeating what others will say, Newcastle’s transfer plans most likely will not be affected by such a sudden and untimely exit.

Boardroom chiefs and ownership figures, along with Howe, met earlier this year in Northumberland to thrash out a lot of transfer and stadium plans long before the summer arrived.

I suppose my feeling, in some ways, is one of disappointment.

I, like many others, was excited by Paul Mitchell’s arrival given his reputation for signing top quality players and recycling squads with ease.

To see him leave less than one year since taking up the role is a tad underwhelming.

It is clear Mitchell was more than just a transfer man and sought to run the rule over all aspects of the football club – but clearly something has been amiss from the start.

Knowing this new-look, professional Newcastle, they will do the due diligence before finding a more than capable replacement in the short-term.

Ross Gregory The fact that Newcastle are at the start of what has the potential to be the most transformative transfer window in years, with a sporting director who will be having his leaving drinks in three weeks and a CEO who is also on his way out, does worry me.

Eddie Howe will have a firm say in recruitment, along with Steve Nickson, but you need that boardroom stability and influence.

Regardless of what people may think, it does matter to some players when they are signing.

And when contracts and terms are being negotiated, a club needs someone to oversee matters.

Short term it’s a worry for me.

Newcastle simply can’t afford to waste this opportunity.

Let’s see what deals actually get done but even if there is minimal impact the timing is incredulous.

Arsenal have changed sporting director but made sure they brought Andrea Berta in long before the window opened.

This is the second upheaval at this level in 18 months.

Dan Ashworth’s exit was a concern and to see his successor depart so quickly afterwards means something isn’t working at boardroom level.

Top organisations need stability and let’s hope Newcastle get the next appointment right.

Andrew Musgrove The timing of Paul Mitchell’s exit perhaps make the news of his departure worse than it seems.

United are in capable hands, in the short-term at least, with Steve Nickson.

For me, the most pressing thing is to get Darren Eales’ replacement in at CEO before appointing a new sporting director.

These two board appointments hopefully will bring a long term stability to the boardroom.

In regards to the present day, Newcastle’s transfer plans will have been finalised for months and Mitchell’s exit, you’d like to think, will not impact the ability to get them over the line.

Newcastle United’s 2024-25 campaign has to rank as one of the best in living memory.

Not only did Eddie Howe’s side qualify for the Champions League by securing fifth place in the Premier League, but they ended their long wait for silverware by winning the Carabao Cup Our special Chronicle end-of-season edition celebrates an incredible campaign for the Magpies, with in-depth analysis, ratings and interviews of a season to remember.

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