Rafa Benitez has insisted that the club must ‘mix experience and youth’ in the transfer market, confirming that a ‘series of conditions have to be met’ when asked if he’ll sign a new deal at Newcastle.
This comes after claims Mike Ashley will move back to a policy of signing players under the age of 25 this summer – something that clearly won’t sit well with Benitez, with the Spaniard making one of his key demands clear here.
Here’s what the 59-year-old had to say this week during a radio interview with Spanish outlet ‘MARCA’:
“I am in contact with the club and I am waiting for answers to questions I have proposed to continue. My family is in England, here I am content but a series of conditions have to be met.”
“To stay, we need to sit down, talk well about the economic possibilities of the club and what direction we’re going in. We have to mix experience and youth, that is the balance we have to achieve.”
“English teams have a lot of economic potential and attract the best players. That’s good for big Premier League teams but it’s a drawback for teams like ours.”
Our decision making process and the speed in which we get deals done has been highlighted as a frustration of Benitez’s in the past, while freedom to spend his allotted budget as he pleases was also mentioned in a report by the Times’ George Caulkin today.
Being allowed to sign more senior players is no doubt one of Benitez’s key commands, however, with any permanent deal for Salomon Rondon relying on Ashley to change his stance – and he’d be a fool not to given how well the 29-year-old has performed this season.
Rondon isn’t the only success story either. Without signing players over the age of 25 there’d be no Martin Dubravka and no Fabian Schar in our ranks – two men who are not only key figures in the first team but players whose values have tripled or quadrupled in the short time they’ve been at St James’ Park.
It’s not rocket science Ashley. You either agree to a compromise and back the best manager we’ve had on Tyneside since Sir Bobby or watch ‘your’ club go up in flames.
