While Newcastle United 's lucrative takeover has provided an upturn in both results on the pitch and morale off it - it also means every season is now silly season when it comes to transfer rumours.
Fans on Tyneside are now immune to picking up their phones and seeing the Magpies linked with players they would usually only have a chance of signing on Football Manager. In the last week alone, Neymar and Paulo Dybala have been touted as potential summer additions - while foreign links with Napoli hitman Victor Omishen refuse to go away.
Now, it's the turn of Paul Pogba. The Manchester United wantaway, World Cup winner and midfield maestro who has grand aspirations of enjoying a new challenge in his twilight years. But it is hard to choose a starting point when it comes to explaining why Pogba probably won't be playing in a Newcastle shirt next season.
Join the debate - Buy tickets and further details of our live NUFC podcast fans event
For starters, the Frenchman earns just shy of £300,000-a-week at Old Trafford and is unlikely to fancy a pay cut at this stage in his career. Agreeing to a salary of that magnitude would shatter Newcastle's wage bill and certainly disrupt the current crop of players at St James' Park.
With no shortage of interest from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and a return to Paris, it is also highly unlikely Pogba would fancy a move to the North East - even with a co-ordinated campaign of sending him bridge photos on Twitter. Despite their upturn in form of late, Newcastle are still a long way off promising European football in the next few years - and at the age of 29 and with a World Cup on the horizon, Pogba will fancy himself to stay among Europe's elite.
Undoubtedly the transfer would rank among, if not, the biggest in Newcastle's 140-year history. But the new ownership will be aware of the potential risks that accompany bringing in a player who earns so much, and can at times produce so little.
Speaking just this month, Amanda Staveley poured cold water on the suggestion that Newcastle would pay over the odds for players. "We are not saying we are going to spend silly money. We are not," she said. “I hope that in the next transfer window people will see we are not going to overpay for players or assets. If people think we will spend silly money, we will not.”
Toon legend Alan Shearer knows a thing or two about high-profile moves to the North East. And he has previously made valid points regarding the consistency of Pogba.
“We’ve said it so many times that the ability is there but we probably haven’t seen it enough," he said last year while highlighting one of the midfielder's rare good days. If Pogba can't consistently perform for a team playing in Europe and challenging for the top four, how would he respond when parachuted into a mid-table outfit.
In terms of a transfer fee, Pogba would cost nothing. He has already made his intentions clear that he intends to leave Old Trafford on a free at the end of his contract this summer. But the cost of the salary, the dressing room disruption and the potential fallout should the transfer prove to be a failure mean Newcastle should steer clear.
