RAFA’S DEADLINE

He wants Ashley’s signings by January 20

Rafa Benitez has imposed a transfer deadline of January 20 for newcastle owner Mike ashley to give him the players he needs to keep the club in the Premier League.

newcastle have lost eight of their last nine games and find themselves in the bottom three going into Saturday’s trip to a resurgent West Ham.

Benitez has the terms of a loan deal in place to bring Chelsea winger Kenedy to St James’ Park but still does not know his budget for the rest of next January window. and, given the slump in form and threat of relegation, he has put pressure on ashley to come up with some funds.

‘I have confidence that Mike ashley will deliver what we need to stay in the Premier League before January 20 to be sure that we have time to work with the new players,’ said Benitez.

‘If you go to January 30 it always very difficult to do business on the last day. You have to do business early and get players as soon as possible. I don’t know the budget so we don’t know how much we can spend. It will depend on the value of the players, the players who are available or not and we may have to move players out to bring others in.

‘We haven’t received any offers for any of our players at this stage, but we have to do things as quickly as possible and I have the belief and the confidence in Mike ashley that by January 15 or 20, we have to be there with everything done.

‘am I confident we can get what we want? In some cases yes, in some cases no.’

Meanwhile, David Moyes insists he does not want to enter contract talks with West Ham until the very end of the season when he and the club can assess their options.

The 54-year-old signed a shortterm deal last month which only runs until the summer.

Moyes said: ‘My job when I came here was to make sure we were a Premier League club. I won’t be talking about (a contract) with the club or anybody until the end of the season.’