New deals for Tiote, Enrique and Barton please!

If Newcastle want to really overcome the sale of Andy Carroll they will have to show some ambition. This is my view anyway.

I think people are starting to get over the sale of Carroll and realise that deal, worth up to £41 million, was hard to refuse. The main issue I believe, is that there was nobody lined up to replace him which means that Newcastle have to battle on lighter in numbers than they were at the start of the transfer window.

Alan Pardew said yesterday that the club isn't in a position to turn down mega-money offers for it's players, which is a worry. To allay that, Newcastle need to show some ambition to the fans and players alike and prove to them that it's worth sticking around.

One way to show that would be to tie down those players who we currently have that are doing the business for us. Joey Barton is rumoured to be set for a new deal which could be signed as early as next week, but what about players like Cheik Tiote and Jose Enrique? Keeping those two will be vital

Tiote is reported to be interesting Chelsea, which could be a bad sign in the summer. Talk is that the club are considering offering him a new contract to ward off any chance of the player wanting to move. It doesn't always work of course, but it would show that the club does actually want to compete.

The same can be said for Jose Enrique to be fair. The Spaniard will only have 12 months left on his current deal in the summer and will attract interest from a vast number of clubs. The rumour regarding a new deal with Jose is suggesting that the player has put talks on hold until Premier League survival is assured.

If Newcastle are to progress then they will need to keep their better players, or at the very least re-invest the money they make from transfers out. Starting with the £35+ million that they received for Carroll, the club need to strengthen their current playing staff as well as maintaining the current crop of players.

If Mike Ashley really wants the club to be self-sufficient and streamlined as a business, then there are other ways to go about it. Ditching players like Alan Smith (£60,000 a week) and Xisco (£55,000 a week) would save the club nigh on £6 million a year in wages alone, plus I dare say they could flog them for a combined value of £4 million. That would save/make the club £10 million in the first year alone.

The club need to show some ambition, but unfortunately I'm unsure whether they will or not. If they do then fair enough, we can improve and we can move in fully, but until that happens there will be a large element of scepticism amongst the Newcastle faithful - including me.

We'll see I guess!