While the deal to sell Ayoze Perez might represent good business on a balance sheet - it comes close to rivalling Andy Carroll's £35m move to Liverpool in January 2011 - it would leave the Magpies without a proven strike force and no manager with the new season just a month away.
Salomon Rondon has returned to West Brom after scoring 12 goals during a hugely successful loan spell last season, with the club's reluctance to sanction a permanent £16.5m swoop for the 29-year-old proving to be one of the factors in Benitez's decision to leave.
Those players who have not been on international duty this summer are due to return for pre-season training on Thursday to be greeted by an empty manager's office - either Ben Dawson, the club's head of academy coaching or new under-23s boss Neil Redfearn is expected to be placed in temporary charge.
January signing Miguel Almiron will arrive later having played his part in Paraguay's Copa America campaign, but he could find the two men with whom he formed a promising attacking trio during the second half of last season, Perez and Rondon, nowhere to be seen.