Newcastle owner promises Benitez 'every penny' for next season
(Reuters) - Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez will have access to "every last penny" generated by the club in their Championship winning season to strengthen his squad for next season's Premier League, owner Mike Ashley has promised.
Newcastle will require significant spending on transfers and equipments to thrive in the league and Benitez had previously expressed his frustration at the club's lack of new signings in the January transfer window.
Ashley, Benitez and managing director Lee Charnley held a "positive and constructive" meeting to discuss the club's future.
"I've confirmed to Rafa and Lee that they can have every last penny that the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means in order to build for next season," Ashley said in a club statement.
Benitez said that he was happy with the meeting and was looking ahead to next season.
"There will be challenges ahead of course, the summer will not be easy, but the hard work has been going on for some time and we can now continue positively with the development of the squad ahead of the start of the new season," the Spaniard said.
(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)