Newcastle left back Jose Enrique has called on the club to bring in new signings to bolster the Toon’s promotion challenge. The Spanish defender felt that despite the lack of money that was available to the Magpies while in the Championship, there was room for a few more players to shore up numbers in the squad:
“We need new players, some have already gone. We’ve got a good squad, but when people go then we need to get replacements. I am sure that Chris has this situation already in hand – if he wants my recommendations I hear that Lionel Messi and Ronaldo would be great signings! But I think Chris has done an excellent job so far in adjusting the team for this division, and I’m sure he will continue to do that. We are in the Championship now and it’s different to the Premier League. There is less money to spend for transfers.”
Enrique was speaking after three loan signings, Zurab Khizanishvili, Marlon Harewood and Danny Simpson all have returned, or look set to return to their Parent clubs after their loan deals expire. It is certainly a worry going into the second half of the season that the squad is three players lighter but there will hopefully signings to reinforce numbers by the time the transfer window closes. The drawn out saga with Jermaine Beckford will hopefully come to some conclusion soon, while there is clearly interest in shoring up other areas of the team, especially with centre back Khizanishvili and right back Simpson returning to Blackburn and Man Utd respectively.
Newcastle have lost out on Matthew Kilgallon though, and he will now leave Sheffield United on a Bosman at the end of the season. Manager Chris Hughton has said where he wants to improve his squad on a number of occasions: right back, centre back and centre forward, but he has conceded there is no guarantee there will be signings this month:
“I can’t see us failing to sign anyone this month, in all honesty. What I wouldn’t want to do is say categorically that won’t happen, but I can’t see it.”
Read the full article at the link in the comments section.
