Newcastle 'still have some time' for deals, says Rafael Benitez
Tuesday 30 January 2018 15:19, UK
Rafael Benitez says Newcastle "still have some time" to strengthen their squad before the January transfer window closes.
The club have secured one signing this month, with Chelsea's Kenedy joining on loan until the end of the season.
The Magpies have had two bids turned down for Nicolai Jorgensen, according to Sky sources, with the latest an offer of £15m, while Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge opted to join West Brom on loan.
"We still have time so I'm confident we can do something," Benitez said of his club's chances of securing a late transfer.
"We are working on names, but we have been working for a month.
"To be fair, for more than one month. For the last month we have been working on names that we have on the list. Still, we have some time."
Benitez revealed "two or three" players are likely to leave St James' Park before Wednesday's 11pm deadline, but insists their departures depend on the club securing replacements.
"We have names of players leaving but we have to wait because nothing is finished," the former Real Madrid and Liverpool boss said.
"We have two or three players who are talking with different clubs and then we will see.
"It depends, also, if we can bring in some players. We will try to do our best to bring in someone."
Newcastle sit 15th in the Premier League, one point above the relegation zone with six wins from 24 league games.
They host Burnley on Wednesday - the same evening the transfer window shuts - and Benitez feels Deadline Day should be brought forward to allow teams to focus on the midweek clashes.
"I think a lot of managers, we agree that the transfer window has to close before the games," he said.
"It will be easier for us to train and to keep the players concentrating on their jobs.
"Obviously we are working on a lot of things, but the players are just training and some know that maybe their future is going one way or the other.
"We are at the bottom half of the table so we know that it will be tough and we have to compete against teams that are spending a lot of money.
"We still can compete and we will try to compete with the players that we have at the moment."
