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Rafa Benitez hoping to have offers for these players by end of this week

7 years ago
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Rafa Benitez is hoping to have offers on a number of his unwanted players by the time he and his squad travel back to Tyneside from the training camp in Ireland.

The United boss claims that even without money generated from potential sales (and saving of wages) the club still has enough money to do what they need to do in the transfer market, though he admits the extra cash won’t do any harm.

Adam Armstrong was left at home so he could complete his loan move to Bolton yesterday, whilst the club revealed Chancel Mbemba couldn’t travel due to a hitch with his visa.

However, Rafa Benitez confirmed that the others left behind: Tim Krul, Emmanuel Riviere and Achraf Lazaar are a trio at the top of his list to offload.

Krul and Riviere were sent out on loan last season and neither impressed in that time, whilst they both have only one year left on their contracts.

As for Lazaar, he couldn’t manage a single start in the Championship so hardly a shock that Rafa will try to move him on.

It doesn’t stop there though, with the Newcastle Manager confirming what we all knew really anyway, that all but his key players are available for sale. Rafa Benitez saying anybody on the fringe of the squad can go ‘if the price is right’.

Unless they show something unexpected in pre-season, that list surely contains the likes of Henri Saivet and Siem de Jong who were also sent out on loan last season and failed to impress in weaker leagues.

It has also already been made clear that Karl Darlow, Daryl Murphy and Grant Hanley should be leaving – hopefully the club won’t hold out for unrealistic fees and allow Rafa Benitez to move out unwanted players.

Aleksandar Mitrovic has already admitted he is likely to leave and is another player who Rafa chose not to give many games to, even in the second tier.

For others, it may well depend on who Newcastle manage to bring in, with players such as Mbemba and Colback not likely to be seen as first choice players, though may be kept as cover if no suitable players are brought in and/or no decent bids are received.

Less than four weeks until the season starts and only six weeks until the transfer window closes. While Rafa says the ‘priority for me is the football and maximising the time with the players’, it looks certain he is also, just like last season, going to have to deal with a very hectic time in the transfer market.

Rafa Benitez:

“Some of the players we left are available, it depends on the offer.

“We have to adjust and some will leave, some will stay.

“But everyone (on the fringe of the squad) is available, if the price is right.

“Hopefully, when we go back we will have offers for different players, but the priority for me is the football and maximising the time with the players.

“It will help (to sell some unwanted players) but even without that, we still have enough money to do what we wanted to do.”

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