Arsenal Legends Predict How Newcastle Will Fare in the Premier League & FA Cup This Season

Arsenal Legends Ian Wright and Paul Merson believe it is an absolute 'necessity' that Newcastle hang on to manager Rafa Benitez, should a proposed club take-over go through.

Business woman Amanda Staveley, made a formal offer for the purchase of Newcastle on Sunday for £300m, which was reportedly rejected by current owner Mike Ashley - who values the club at £400m.

The two parties remain in negotiations, and it looks as though an eventual takeover is a formality at this stage. The Newcastle faithful are excited and welcome the prospect of new owners, believing that they will have better backing in upcoming transfer windows and will eventually challenge for honours.

The former Arsenal duo concurred with this notion when appearing on Sky Sports' The Debate. When questioned whether the new owners will keep Benitez, Wright said: "Yeah, I think so because they will need to attract new players and once they get going it is an amazing place to play.

"It is a necessity. They have to keep Rafa. They need Rafa, they need the kind of money to attract the player that wants to go to the north-east and sample what they have got going on up there.

"Once they see the passion, they will stay but they will still probably want to move on after that."

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Merson agreed, while claiming that the Magpies should be targeting this season's FA Cup, as a springboard for future success at the club:

"I think if you didn’t support Sunderland, who wouldn’t want to see Newcastle win the FA Cup this year, because number one, their supporters and number two, they haven’t won anything for God knows how long.

“They’re middle of the table, they’re not getting relegated, they’re not going to get in the top four, they should play their strongest team all the time.

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“Buy the club for £300 million? If you want to be successful, one you’ve got to keep the manager because he’s probably in the top 10 in the world and the other thing, you need at least another £300million, [for players] at least £300 million.”