‘They need help’ – Newcastle must complete THREE January transfers or get relegated, warns Rob Lee

ROB LEE urged Newcastle to sign English trio Jesse Lingard, James Tarkowski and Kieran Trippier in January.

The former Toon midfielder warned that mega rich Newcastle will be relegated unless they splash the cash when the transfer window opens.

Magpies boss Eddie Howe bagged his first win against Burnley last weekend to climb off the bottom of the table.

But Lee said: “If they keep this team, as much as they’ve improved under Eddie Howe, they’ll go down without a doubt. They need people to help them.

“I’d like to see them sign Jesse Lingard – he did brilliantly at West Ham.

“He’ll be out of contract so will probably cost you £10million when he’s a £40m player.

“James Tarkowski at Burnley, it’s well known that he can leave for a certain amount of money.

“Kieran Trippier [at Atletico Madrid], he’d like to come back from Spain and Newcastle would be a great opportunity for him.

“So they need to sign those sorts of players that have played in the Premier League and will hit the ground running.”

Saudi-owned Newcastle are three points off safety and travel to stuttering Leicester on Saturday.

But with Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United afterwards, Lee worries for his old side if they go into January cut further adrift.

: “It’s alright saying it’s like Football Manager, they’ve got the money, they can bring in who they like… But the players have got to want to come to Newcastle and they’ve got to hit the ground running.

“There is no pre-season or bedding-in period if you sign in January, you’re playing games straight away.

“Newcastle could find themselves nine, ten points adrift by the time January comes and if they do, it’s a tall order for anybody to recover from that.”

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