Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales says the club did not want to lose Yankuba Minteh.

The winger headed south this summer to help Toon meet profit and sustainability targets.

Eales said Newcastle have met Premier League spending rules despite having held on to big names Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon.

The Magpies have complied in large part due to the £35 million sale of homegrown midfielder Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest and Minteh’s switch to Albion for a similar fee while leaving the core of head coach Eddie Howe’s side intact.

Eales said: “On all of these things, we are compliant. We did what we needed to do.

“We did not want to lose those players, but again we had to do the deals we had to do to leave the squad in the best place possible for Eddie moving forward.

“In that respect, with Bruno, Isak, Gordon, Joelinton and (Sandro) Tonali to come back, we’ve got Lloyd Kelly coming in as an addition already, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, we’ve got the squad to kick on.

“But we are always looking to add to that and that is the challenge now, that is what we need to do.”

To that end, Howe, Eales and new sporting director Paul Mitchell, who was appointed as Dan Ashworth’s replacement earlier this month following his defection to Manchester United, will attempt to land their remaining summer transfer targets having entered a new three-year PSR cycle relieved of the burden of their Saudi-backed owners’ sustained spending spree.