Sam Allardyce has always had a reputation as a wheeler-dealer in the transfer market with his foreign legion at Bolton and he has wasted no time in revamping his Newcastle squad.
However, there is a subtle difference at St James' Park in that he has bringing in established Premiership stars rather than unproven talent from abroad. Far more of Allardyce's gambles succeeded than failed, which is why Newcastle head-hunted him to be their new boss, so he must feel like a kid in a sweet shop with the extra funds at his disposal.
With Joey Barton and Mark Viduka already on board, he is looking to complete a quick-fire hat-trick by luring Bolton's Tal Ben Haim further north. Barton agreed to make a £5.5m move from Manchester City late on Tuesday night when he penned a five-year deal at St James' Park.
Viduka has also agreed to join the Magpies on a two-year contract after successfully undergoing a medical at a private London clinic. But Allardyce is also determined to land the Israeli centre half, who out of contract at the end of the month and currently mulling over offers from a number of clubs.
Bolton boss Sammy Lee has offered to extend his stay in Lancashire, while Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho attempted to sign the 25-year-old in January, only for his club's board to be put off by Wanderers' £3m fee. No fee will be payable this summer, and Allardyce is hoping that his previously successful relationship with Ben Haim will persuade the defender to rejoin him.
"I've had a very successful first week at my desk," said Allardyce, who has also sanctioned Scott Parker's £7m sale to West Ham. "I've come back from holiday and signed two quality players in Joey and Mark. Mark is almost in the bag. It's been difficult because he has been on holiday, but we're nearly there. We hope to sort out a medical for next week and then that will be done.
"To get Mark and Joey in one week is not bad going and I'm delighted, particularly with how crazy the transfer market can be. But they are not the only things we've been working on. I'm interested in any player of quality who wants to move on, so yes I'm interested in Tal Ben Haim - he's a free agent and hopefully available.
"He has three or four years of experience in the Premiership and I know him inside out. We had a good working relationship, we grew in the Premiership together and I'm very interested in working with him again," added Big Sam, who also waxed lyrical about Barton after tempting the 24-year-old to St James' Park.
"For me, Joey is one of the top midfielders in the Premiership. We've a young, exciting midfielder with great attributes who is coming into the prime of his career. He was due to talk to the other club that had an offer accepted (West Ham), but we managed to persuade him not to do that and sign for us.
"We want him to progress rapidly as a footballer at Newcastle and hopefully get in the England set up again, because that's where he wants to be. He's good enough, but he has to do a lot of work off the field to get back to that and hopefully he can do that at Newcastle."
He added: "I'm confident I can handle him. My side of the job is to temper the other difficulties he has run into in life, not so much on the field, but off the field. I've asked him, as a maturing young man in his mid-twenties, to curb that side of his life and make sure he focuses on what he loves best and doesn't harm that by what he does off the field.
"He's got a little bit of baggage off the field, yes. I think he admits that himself. In my time at Bolton, we had lots of people come with that sort of reputation but have found that, with a little bit of gentle care and handling, hopefully he'll mature and we'll see the last of those disturbances. Players have to be aware they are representing the club, not just themselves. They are professional footballers and they have to conduct themselves in the proper manner. That applies to everybody.
"You will always have disciplinary problems with players along the line, but you deal with it and you get on with it. The player has to accept that, but man management is a skill that I think is top of my asset list."
With a hat-trick of potential signings snared in his first week in office it looks as though Allardyce is set to rip Newcastle apart in order to find the winning formula. Could he finally be the man to lead the Geordies to the promised land of silverware after a long time in the dark?
