Rafa Benitez appeared to be making a point to Mike Ashley at his latest Press conference by insisting he is capable of enhancing the club's policy on bringing in players with resale value.
It is believed that Ashley wants to revert to the blueprint of bringing in players under-25 that will go on to net the club big transfer fees in the future.
That approach would see the end of signings such as Ki, Federico Fernandez, and loan signing Salomon Rondon - who are all either side of 30.
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But even then Benitez feels he could work within the parameters at United moving forward.
It had seemed like Benitez had got through his media briefing with a straight-batted strategy on Thursday afternoon.
However, by using his work in the transfer market at Serie A side Napoli, Benitez sent the message to Ashley he could actually end up making the club a profit if he gets the chance.
He said: "The debate is quite simple. We have to buy good players.
"When I signed for Napoli, the president Aurelio De Laurentiis had ambition, and he wanted to improve. He wanted to go to Europe and be there every year.
"So we signed Reina, Higuain, Raul Albiol, Mertens, Callejon, with money from Edinson Cavani.
"Selling Cavani got us around €60m (£51.7m).
"The year after, we signed Kalidou Koulibaly and Jorginho.
"Just by selling Higuain and Jorginho, the club got €140m (£120.6m), so it was a massive profit.
"And they still have Koulibaly and all these players, and you know the prices of these players."
Koulibaly has been linked with a summer move to the Premier League and is now valued at £90million after Benitez paid just £6.8million for his services from Genk.
He has been tipped to join Manchester United this summer.
Another of Benitez's former players in Duván Zapata has been banging the goals in for Atalanta this season and is valued at £43million, with West Ham and Inter Milan interested in him, after the Toon boss paid £8million for his services.
Benitez feels that Napoli are still benefiting from his work in the transfer market now.
He said: "They have guaranteed in the last four years to be in Europe - either in the Europa League or the Champions League.
"That means when you have the potential, you can do that. You can see the potential here.
"That is what you are looking for."
Critics may argue Benitez has got some decisions wrong at Newcastle in the transfer window with Matz Sels, Jesus Gamez and Joselu not hitting the heights many expected on Tyneside.
But Benitez has got 80% of his signings right since coming in as boss in 2016.
Rafa Benitez delivers update on his future as he awaits 'answers' from Newcastle United
