Newcastle tipped to bin six 'Championship' players amid Telegraph reveal - pundit
The new Newcastle United owners will get rid of "90 per cent" of the current squad within two years, according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Aston Villa and England attacker named Jamal Lascelles, Isaac Hayden, Sean Longstaff, Jonjo Shelvey, Matt Ritchie and Javier Manquillo as regular starters who will be binned as they are Championship quality.
The Saudi-backed regime had their first chance to watch the team as owners against Tottenham at the weekend.
They raced into an early lead before Spurs scored three goals before half-time.
An Eric Dier own goal meant the game finished 3-2 but it was scant consilation in what proved to be Steve Bruce's final game in charge.
“Let’s be honest, the owners will probably be looking at that team and there’ll be three or four players who they want to keep,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“Give it three, four transfer windows and 90 per cent of that squad will be gone.
“Lascelles is not a Premier League defender, Isaac Hayden is not a Premier League midfielder, Longstaff, Shelvey, Ritchie, Manquillo.
“These are not Premier League players. They better buck up their performances because they’re playing for their next moves, they’re playing for their next Championship moves. They’re not good enough.
“You could get Pep Guardiola into that job and he’d struggle to keep them up because they’re that dreadful.”
The Telegraph's Luke Edwards reported (October 16) Newcastle will have a January transfer budget of £50million.
Under financial fair play rules, they would be allowed to spend £150million.