Alan Shearer Warns of Possible Rafa Benitez Departure Amid Transfer Market Frustration

Alan Shearer has warned Newcastle United that they could lose Rafael Benitez if they don't back him sufficiently in the final few weeks of the transfer market.

The legendary striker told talkSPORT that he feared his beloved Magpies could be managerless by Christmas if the Spaniard continues to grow frustrated over his side's glacial approach to transfer dealings.

Newcastle have managed to secure the signing of five new first-team players, but Shearer admitted that the north east team had also missed out on a tonne of other potential targets for varying reasons.

He stated: “I think there’s definitely a frustration there from him, having spoken to him. They’ve been in for a lot of players and they’ve missed out on a lot of players.

“They have tried, but for different reasons they haven’t got some of the players in that they’ve wanted. They’ve been too late, other clubs have gone ahead and beaten them to it.

“He will have to have signs of bringing more players in, and I think it’s a big two or three weeks regarding bringing a few more in. He needs that, there’s no doubt about it.

“He says he needs a new striker – he might need two – he needs a full-back, and he also wants an experienced goalkeeper. He says they’re working hard to bring those players in and hopefully they can."

Newcastle have landed Jacob Murphy, Florian Lejeune, Christian Atsu, Javier Manquillo and Mikel Merino in the off season but require plenty more bodies ahead of their return to the Premier League.

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Asked if he though Benitez would still be in charge at St.James' Park in four months' time, Shearer was wary of officially confirming that the 57-year-old would still be in charge then.

He added: “I hope so, but I don’t think we can guarantee that. Rafa will have them hard to beat, he’ll have them organised and well-drilled, but Rafa wants to be bigger and better than that.

“He went to the Championship knowing that his job was the get the club back into the Premier League, then thinking he could go one-step further and build and get bigger and better – that’s what he wants and if he’s not able to do that he won’t be there for much longer.

“I think we’ll know a lot in a month's time and if he doesn’t get what he wants than you might see it starting to unravel.”