Newcastle United squad valuation rose by less than £500,000 - despite promotion to the Premier League in 2017.
Rafa Benitez's Newcastle squad was worth a combined £93,965,000 during the 2017/18 campaign, just a slight increase on the £93.5m listed during the Championship-winning season.
That is according to the Magpies' annual accounts for the year ending June 30, 2018, anyway - and the club's 'book valuation' of their own playing staff.
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Once Newcastle's transfer business during the summer 2017 and January 2018 windows are taken into account, however, the small increase in value of the squad is perhaps more understandable.
Six permanent additions arrived in the form of Christian Atsu, Florian Lejeune, Jacob Murphy, Javier Manquillo, Joselu and Mikel Merino - Martin Dubravka's initial loan was also eventually made into a permanent transfer, too - while 13 players departed on a permanent basis.
The headline exits included talented youngster Lewis Gibson, who joined Everton, as well as first-team players such as Vurnon Anita, Florian Thauvin , Siem de Jong, Emmanuel Riviere, Daryl Murphy, Grant Hanley and Tim Krul.
Given that none of the incomings were so-called 'marquee signings' - and, while the outgoings were mainly fringe players, the likes of Thauvin and Gibson did hold significant market value - it helps highlights why the 'book value' of the squad increased by such a small amount.
Interestingly, however, the current United squad is still worth £21.4m less than the group of players who were relegated in 2015/16.
According to Newcastle's previous accounts, the team which included the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum , Aleksandar Mitrovic, Moussa Sissoko, Daryl Janmaat and Thauvin - but who were relegated - were worth more (£115.4m) than either the Newcastle side who won the Championship (£93.5m) or Benitez's squad who finished 10th in the Premier League last term (£94m).
Considering those five players mentioned above were sold for a combined total of almost £100m, that helps to show why the relegated squad were valued so highly in accountancy terms when compared to the subsequent more-successful sides.
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