We re-signed Lovenkrands, which was looking more obvious as the weeks rolled by, but who was this second player Chris Hughton had his eyes on?
Sky Sports predicted Marlon Harewood, but that would have cost us money ... and 'splashing the cash' was something Mike Ashley was never going to do.
Some even suggested Aston Villa threw the Toon into the auction just to get Hull City to up their offer on the striker. In the end he went nowhere.
Lovenkrands left St James' Park at the end of last season after scoring three goals in 12 Premier League appearances following his arrival in January.
After becoming a free agent he reportedly rejected two contract offers from the Magpies, but the fact no-one else was interested, it was Newcastle or the dole.
Having spent the summer the summer training with Rangers (in the hope the Glasgow giants would re-sign him), Lovenkrands saw out the transfer window with little interest.
The former Rangers man even considered discussing terms with the Mackems, but the supposed interest was nothing more than newspaper speculation, and never materialised.
With reports Ashley had to sell three high-earning players for Barry Moat to get the funds for a supposed takeover, many of us feared the worst.
But Steven Taylor said at the weekend he was "going nowhere", and Hughton said after the Leicester game "I don't think any more players will be leaving".
And that was how it happened.