Rafael Benítez suspects Newcastle United are on the brink of a “sliding doors” moment. He has responded by drafting dramatically differing contingency plans for an ambitious investment in the January transfer window and the acquisition of a couple of budget signings intended to help avoid a potential relegation struggle.
Everything hinges on whether the club is the subject of an imminent takeover. Reports in the Gulf suggest that a consortium fronted by the financier Amanda Staveley is keen to buy Newcastle from Mike Ashley and transform the club into another Manchester City but, although due diligence is under way, no firm bid has been received.
Should one fail to materialise – or a takeover simply take time to happen – Benítez knows his January budget will be tight.
Yet despite the manager’s disappointment at Ashley’s transfer market parsimony during the summer, his team are exceeding expectations. They arrive at Burnley on Monday night in the top half of the table but Benítez remains far from complacent. He is well aware that Newcastle’s fixtures have been relatively kind.
“Our players will have more confidence now because we’re doing well,” he said. “But we aren’t saying: ‘Ooh, we have 14 points and we’re fine.’ No way.
“We know we still have to do things to stay in the Premier League. I won’t say that’s the target because then I’d be criticised for a lack of ambition and I want to be as high as possible but we know that sometimes you can play a couple of games and suddenly everything changes. We have to be prepared for that and make sure the team are ready for difficult moments, ready for losing three games in a row.”
Even so, such realism must be tempered with genuine optimism. “I want us to compete against anyone,” Benítez said. “The team has to play with confidence because they’re well organised and working hard. If you approach the season thinking about having to survive then you’ll be down there fighting to survive. So you have to try to be as high as possible in the table.
“We’ll look at it again in January. By then we’ll have played the top sides and will be exactly where we are for a reason. Now people can say: ‘You haven’t played City, United or Arsenal,’ which is why I’m not going to start saying: ‘Oh we’re amazing.’”