Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez is looking to hold talks with Lee Charnley this week as the Spaniard pushes for progress over his contract negotiations on Tyneside, according to the Times.
The newspaper claim on their website that the man in the dugout has not received a response from the club over what he has submitted in terms of what he wants in order to sign a new deal at St James’ Park, with his current terms coming to an end this summer.
It is stated the terms of the demands made are more about guarantees he will get what he wants rather than about the transfer budget or his salary and he told the Times: “I have not had any answers, so I want to know what their answers are. If I have the answers, then I can decide.”
Opinion
The longer this saga drags on, the more worried about Benitez’s future the Toon Army will be. It is absurd that Charnley, working as the right hand man to Mike Ashley, has not moved to get the ball rolling in talks and is instead willing to bide his time over the Spaniard. He is without a doubt the most valuable asset that the Magpies have on their books and he only boosts the value of those around him, as well as the entire club, with his managerial expertise. Replacing him would prove to be an impossible task – there are no other high profile managers with the same sort of ability who would give Newcastle United a second look – and so the Toon Army would have to deal with a lesser manager taking the poisoned chalice of the job on Tyneside. It is worrying times for Newcastle and an almost unbelievable situation considering the club are now safe in the Premier League.