If the Premier League's four-year investigation into Man City has taught us anything, it's that Financial Fair Play is not dead. Far from it.
Finding emerging talent who can grow with the club and potentially save millions in the long run has never been more important for Newcastle United. That is why Newcastle will continue to target signings like Harrison Ashby as much 'here and now players' in the years to come.
Anthony Gordon's big-money arrival naturally grabbed the headlines, but it was rather telling that Newcastle not only went back in for Ashby last month - the Magpies were willing to pay £3m for the West Ham defender, too, even though he was due to be a free agent in the summer. That just shows you how much the club wanted the young defender.
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West Ham also rated Ashby. In fact, David Moyes refused to let Ashby join Newcastle last summer in the hope that West Ham could convince the 21-year-old to stay and sign a new contract. In reality, Ashby's mind was already made up: he wanted to move to Newcastle.
Although Ashby is seen very much as one for the future, the bullish right-back has already spoken about how learning from Kieran Trippier is a 'big thing for me in my progression to be as good if not better'. Those words will not have come as a surprise to former West Ham reserve team boss Dmitri Halajko, who has no doubt that Ashby will 'attack the opportunity' at Newcastle.
"Harrison is a confident lad," Halajko told ChronicleLive. "He will back himself. I wouldn't see the move, the size of the club or the price tag putting any doubt or worry in his mind.
"He always trained really hard. Whenever I had him in my training sessions, I was always really happy with his work rate. He loves his football.
"He's a competitive boy and comes to life in a training session and on match day. He wants to train in a way that he tries to push himself. He's got more development left in him so he can only improve."
Eddie Howe pointed to that 'character' after signing Ashby and this is a young player who has encountered setbacks along the way. Indeed, after making his first-team debut for West Ham, and his first start for the club a few days later, Ashby season was ended by a serious knee injury in 2020.
Ashby was just 18 at the time and could only watch on as fellow right-back and fellow academy graduate Ben Johnson flourished. Ashby, in contrast, would go on to make just a further five competitive appearances for the club.
Yet it will not have gone unnoticed by Newcastle's recruitment team how Ashby did not look out of place when he eventually made his Premier League debut against Arsenal at the Emirates in 2021 or how the Scotland under-21 international even stood his ground when he went head-to-head with Pierre-Emile Hojberg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week later. That is the sort of mentality Howe wants from a young player and Ashby also has the raw attributes the Newcastle boss looks for as Halajko explained.
"You could see Harrison had the potential to develop into a top player," he added. "His athleticism is really impressive and he's a good technician. He's a modern day attacking full-back that likes to get forward.
"To be a modern day full-back and play at the top level, athleticism is a non-negotiable and he certainly has that. Straight away, you can tick that box. If you haven't got that, you're not going to play at the top level - and he has.
"Technically he is a good player as well and he's good in the air for a full-back. Sometimes, a modern day full-back who's athletic is maybe lacking a little bit in the air, but he wins his aerial duels as well as his ground duels. He's still got a lot to learn, as any player of that age has, but he has got some potential attributes that at the top end of the game are very desirable."
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