Newcastle have now been told how much they must pay AC Milan for Malick Thiaw

To say that Newcastle United are dragging their heels in this transfer window would be putting it mildly.

While Aston Villa have made their eighth signing of the summer, Newcastle have Lloyd Kelly, John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos to show for their tame efforts, only one of which looks likely to have any impact on the first team.

The closest Toon fans have got to any form of excitement is when it looked like we were close to signing German centre-back Malick Thiaw from AC Milan.

While that deal is still alive, it's clear two weeks on that "close" was perhaps not the right word to use in those reports.

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Malick Thiaw for £34million is still a good deal

Quite what is taking so long is anyone's guess as the figure being quoted in The Chronicle today which they have pulled from Gazzetta dello Sport is no different to the one we have been expecting the deal to cost for most of the summer.

Milan want £34million for Thiaw, which is hardly news to anyone. with reports from early July using that figure as the suggestion that it would be what is required to get the deal done.

Now, it seems like Newcastle have been told to cough up £34million or forget it, which they had bloody well better do.

There's a fine line between negotiating and being a d*ck

We love that our board won't be bullied into paying over the odds, but sometimes they are so stubborn and so convinced that they can negotiate a better deal that they run the risk of messing things up completely.

Milan have set a price of £34million. We have tried to get him for £25million. Milan have stuck with £34million therefore it's clear that it will take £34million to bring Malick Thiaw to Newcastle, so either pay up or release a statement to the fans admitting that you refused to meet Milan's valuation and you've moved on.

We are all far too frustrated now to entertain all this messing around. You can't have Darren Eales come out singing about how well-positioned we are financially and then expect fans to understand when you're penny pinching your way out of deals for players that would improve the squad.

You can't have it both ways. Just get somebody signed before I lose my mind.