Rafa Benitez has sent a veiled warning to Mike Ashley about Newcastle’s transfer promises.
The two most powerful men at Newcastle met at the end of last season and appeared to agree on a spending plan to deal with life in the Premier League.
So far Florian Lejeune and Christian Atsu have been the only additions to the Newcastle squad with Atsu on loan during last season’s promotion run.
Benitez will require at least four new first team starters to deliver a top half finish and was happy to pass that question over to the club’s owner during a lunchtime media conference.
“When I had the meeting with Mike Ashley I was confident that after that meeting we have the money available and the wages,” the Newcastle boss told The Chronicle. “Everything is in place to move forward. Hopefully, Mike can keep his word and we can do what we want to do.”
That final line is bound to grab plenty of attention with lots of speculation about the future of the former Real Madrid manager over the last few weeks.
Benitez has kept his public comments to a minimum leaving others to speculate about his happiness at the situation.
Today’s comments put Ashley firmly in the spotlight, plenty of targets have been identified but so far only Lejeune has appeared in a black and white shirt.
