Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez 'confident' club can land January targets
Friday 22 December 2017 23:04, UK
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez says he is confident club owner Mike Ashley will deliver on targets in the January transfer window.
Benitez has stressed the need for Newcastle to invest in reinforcements when the window opens on January 1, while he voiced his frustration at the club's business in the summer.
Newcastle sit 18th in the Premier League after a run of eight defeats in their last nine games, and Benitez admits signings must be made "as quick as possible".
"Yes, it's really important," Benitez said when asked if he would like transfers finalised earlier in the window.
"We have to do things as quick as possible. I have the belief and confidence that Mike Ashley, by January 15 to 20, will have everything done. I have confidence that he will do it."
Newcastle targeted a move for Chelsea's Kenedy in the summer, though Benitez refused to be drawn to reports in the national press linking them with certain players.
"No, in terms of the transfer window we don't have any agreement with anyone. At the moment we are progressing trying to be closer but I don't know the budget that I have," he added.
"In terms of names in the press, some of them are impossible for us, so the reality is that we have to understand that we have to keep focused on football.
"The scout's department are working on names and I have had conversations with Lee [Charnley] and we know we are trying to do things, but it's still nothing finished."
Despite Newcastle's run of form, Benitez is hopeful the team will soon turn their fortunes around but admits the results have been concerning.
"We were doing well, but maybe this was our problem that maybe we were doing so well that everybody was expecting that we could be at the top of the table, more or less," Benitez said.
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"We are in a bad position, we have had a bad run but at the same time you can see the team is working so hard and we are so close to getting results.
"When I decided to come here, the team was in a very bad position with just 10 games to play, now we have a lot of games to play and have a good group of players and they care, and they are trying."
