SO much for Mike Ashley’s promises of support to Rafael Benitez then. Newcastle United spent deadline day in the much the same way as they have conducted themselves throughout the rest of the transfer window – missing out on targets, refusing to match the spending of the vast majority of their Premier League rivals and failing to get proposed deals ‘over the line’.

Despite Benitez’s insistence that his squad was short of a goalkeeper, a left-back and a striker, Newcastle did not make a single deadline-day signing. Interest in Divock Origi and Lucas Perez came to nothing, while a series of discussions over Southampton full-back Matt Targett collapsed when they could not even agree the financial terms of a loan deal.

Dwight Gayle remained on Tyneside, safe in the knowledge that Newcastle would have sold him had they received a better bid than the £15m they were offered by Fulham, or had the Championship club agreed to swap them Tom Cairney for his services.

At least the nightmare scenario of selling Gayle without securing a replacement was avoided, but Newcastle did allow Tim Krul to join Brighton on loan and sent Achraf Lazaar on loan to Italian side Benevento, with a clause in place for a permanent transfer next summer.

Lazaar’s only senior appearance for Newcastle this season came in the Carabao Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest, but with Targett not signing, it can still be argued that his departure meant the Magpies’ squad actually reduced in strength yesterday.

Chancel Mbemba has slotted in admirably in the last few games, but with Paul Dummett still injured, Newcastle will head into their next Premier League match against Swansea City without a recognised left-back. That is unless you count Jack Colback, who would have joined Wolves yesterday had the Championship club been able to afford his £70,000-a-week wages.

The whole thing feels like an almighty mess, and while it can hardly be said to have been unexpected given Ashley and Lee Charnley’s track record for under-delivering in transfer windows, it remains to be seen where it leaves Benitez in the next few weeks and months.

The Newcastle boss was extremely frustrated when Newcastle failed to land a number of his targets at the start of the transfer window, but his mood softened slightly when the likes of Jacob Murphy and Mikel Merino finally came through the door.

Sources close to the Spaniard were claiming he had refocused on the future in the last couple of weeks, but that was when he expected at least some progress in the final few days of the window.

Instead, Newcastle signed no one, and it remains to be seen how that affects his thinking. He refused to commit his future to the Magpies in the immediate aftermath of last season’s promotion, claiming the club’s ambition had to match his own. Quite how a net spend of £11.5m matches up to that statement is open to debate.

Benitez can justifiably feel extremely let down, with Ashley having promised “every last penny that the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means”. Newcastle have made five permanent signings this summer, and signed Merino on loan, but they have raised revenue through the sales of the likes of Florian Thauvin, Daryl Murphy, Emmanuel Riviere, Siem de Jong and Grant Hanley.

Tellingly, in an era of rapidly-escalating fees, Newcastle are the only Premier League club not to have broken their transfer record since they made Michael Owen their record signing back in 2005. As a bit of context, Huddersfield Town, who accompanied them into the top-flight in May, broke their transfer record three times in a week earlier this summer.

It was apparent at a fairly early stage of yesterday’s proceedings that Newcastle would not be making any additions. Their interest in Origi effectively came to an end on Wednesday night when it became obvious the Liverpool striker was heading to Wolfsburg, and while the Magpies made a number of inquiries about Perez, the Arsenal forward always wanted to return to Spain and eventually signed a €4m loan deal with Deportivo La Coruna.

A rumoured interest in Danny Ings was never on the cards, so Newcastle were effectively left with no choice but to retain Gayle, who added to the bizarre nature of the day when he turned up to the Magpies’ Benton training ground at 9am yesterday morning, only to turn straight around because the players were not due in for training until the afternoon.

Talk of a potential swap deal involving Cairney was always fanciful, with Fulham valuing the midfielder at around £30m, and Benitez will now have to rebuild his relationship with Gayle over the next few weeks.

Krul’s departure to Brighton was hardly a surprise given that the goalkeeper has been training with the academy youngsters in the last few weeks, and with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, he has almost certainly made his final Newcastle appearance.

The same is true of Lazaar, who has been a major flop since moving to Tyneside in a €3.5m move from Palermo last summer.