While Newcastle completed the £52m signing of Anthony Elanga earlier this month, the club have missed out on a number of other targets, who have subsequently gone elsewhere.
The Magpies tried to sign Liam Delap, only for the former Ipswich Town striker to choose Chelsea ahead of them, and also saw Bryan Mbeumo opt for a move to Manchester United rather than a switch to Tyneside.
Joao Pedro became the third player to decide against a proposed move to Newcastle when he followed Delap to Stamford Bridge rather than head to St James’ Park, and it increasingly looks as though a long-running pursuit of Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford could also be destined to end in failure.
Howe spelled out his desire to make early transfer breakthroughs at the end of last season, and admits it has been a difficult few weeks as proposed moves have either stalled or broken down.
“I wish I could give you clarity, and some kind of guarantee that this or that is going to happen, but I can’t,” said the Newcastle boss. “My wish was for us to do our business early, and we certainly tried, but it wasn’t to be.
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“We’ve had a frustrating time in terms of losing targets to other clubs. I’ll be very open on that – that’s happened on several occasions. But you just have to accept it.
“In order for a transfer to really work, in my opinion, the players has to be desperate to come to your club. If we don’t get that, the transfer doesn’t work.
“We’re seeking players that are good enough, that are desperate to come, and that can make the difference. They’re on short supply for us, but we’re confident that we can try to get some more players in to strengthen the depth of the squad. We’re certainly aware that we need to, and we’re trying to do everything we can to do that.”
Howe will spend most of the next fortnight in the Far East, with Newcastle playing matches in Singapore and South Korea against Arsenal, Tottenham and a K-League Select XI.
Ideally, Howe would have liked to have his final squad in place at this stage of the summer. Instead, he will be trying to juggle his coaching commitments in South Korea with a lead role in the recruitment process, with the recent departure of sporting director Paul Mitchell having created a vacuum at the top of Newcastle’s executive structure.
“We wanted more (signings in by now),” admitted Howe. “From my perspective, when you’re going into pre-season, you want your squad together from the first day and you want to work on everything you want to work on.
“It’s difficult to do that later on in pre-season because it takes time for our work to feed into the players.
“Whatever happens, happens, and we have to adapt. I’m confident we will try our very best to do it, but I’ve got no guarantees beyond that. We’re working as hard as we can every day to strengthen the squad.”
Prior to the start of the summer, it was claimed that Newcastle’s improved PSR position would make it easier for them to complete major signings.
Instead, the club have found that they are still in a position where they are unable to compete financially with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, whose income levels continue to dwarf those of the Magpies.
“I’d say the financial side of things plays a huge part, and I’d say that anyone that doesn’t think that is true is deluded,” said Howe. “I wouldn’t say finance is the number one thing for every player – it would be wrong to put that on each and every player – but we can’t and we aren’t the biggest payers in the league because we don’t generate the most income.
“We have to fall in line with PSR and we have to be very smart with what we do. We have to control the wages of the players that we have, and that all plays a part in who we can attract.”