Most Newcastle United supporters are unlikely to have even noticed, but Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury completed a season-long loan move to Championship side Watford on Wednesday. It's barely a year now since a similar deal was a bridge too far for the previous regime at Newcastle, which was a fitting end to the final transfer window of the Ashley era.
A lot has changed since then, of course. The club's new owners have spent around £153m on players - more than the final three years of the Ashley era combined - and, crucially, Newcastle have also kept hold of their prized assets, who want to be part of this project rather than seeing it as a stepping stone like others did in years gone by.
There were only three survivors - Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin - in Newcastle's starting line-up on the opening day from the XI that started the previous campaign a year previously. Nick Pope and Matt Targett both started that 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, following their permanent moves from Burnley and Aston Villa respectively, while Sven Botman got the chance to make his Premier League debut from the bench at the death after his big-money switch from Lille earlier this summer.
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Newcastle's defence, which was once a weakness, has been transformed under Eddie Howe to such a degree that Botman, a future standard bearer, cannot even get into the starting line-up. In contrast, a year previously, Jacob Murphy and Matt Ritchie were used as converted wing-backs; Ciaran Clark, Federico Fernandez and Emil Krafth started in a back three; and goalkeeper Freddie Woodman filled in between the sticks.
Woodman and Clark are among those who have moved on this summer and one or two others could follow if Newcastle make further additions following an initial flurry of signings early in the window. Pope, Targett and Botman all arrived by July 1 but Newcastle have been frustrated in their efforts to sign further reinforcements ever since.
Eddie Howe's priority this summer was to bring in more firepower and Newcastle had a bid accepted for striker Hugo Ekitike before the window had even opened. However, Ekitike decided to stay put at Stade de Reims, just as he did in January, before joining PSG on loan later in the window. Newcastle have tried to come up with alternative ways since then of adding more goals to the side and the Magpies have had two bids for Leicester City attacking midfielder James Maddison rejected in the last 10 days or so.
Newcastle are now fishing in a 'very small pond', as Howe put it, and the head coach has repeatedly insisted that it has to be the 'right player' that the club bring in. Not only someone who can improve his side but, also, a character who can buy into the team-first mentality at the club and not disrupt the dressing room.
There may yet be a surprise before the window shuts in three weeks' time and the club will inevitably be looking at one or two names who have yet to emerge in the public domain. Bruno Guimaraes, for example, had not even been linked with a move to St James' Park before it leaked out that Newcastle were locked in advanced talks with Lyon late in the mid-season window earlier this year. A similar under the radar move can never be ruled out.
To mark the three week run in to deadline day we're asking fans to rate each individual summer deal so far via the widget below:
