Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez will be reasonable in his transfer demands this summer, according to the Daily Star.
The newspaper claims that the Magpies boss realises that he’s not going to have the ‘£40million, £50million, £75million’ he mentioned after Monday’s defeat to Arsenal to spend on single players.
However, he is keen for owner Mike Ashley to sanction the purchases of two players in the price range that the club spent on January arrival Miguel Almiron.
The BBC reported that the North East giants spent £20million on the Paraguayan, and that’s what Benitez will be looking to dish out more regularly moving forward.
OPINION
The £20million price range is certainly more reasonable than the figures Benitez was quoted as giving after the Arsenal defeat. However, in that instance it appears that the Newcastle boss was merely remarking on the difference between his team and the Gunners in the final third. It’s highly unlikely that he ever thought he would get that kind of cash to spend at Newcastle. However, he is keen to be able to spend £20million or so on players, which is not an unreasonable demand in the least. That amount of money, once considered a huge outlay, is par for the course in the Premier League these days. If you want to bring in good players then you’re looking at £20million as a minimum fee at the moment. If Ashley accepts these demands – again, not unreasonable ones – then it’s likely that Benitez will agree to stay on board moving forward. All he wants is a bit more backing to take the next step, and Ashley agreeing to this request would allow him to do that.
