Alan Shearer has told Newcastle United's owners they need to make at least three or four signings in January because the club's current defenders are 'nowhere near good enough'.
Although Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Jamie Reuben, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi would prefer to do business in the summer, the quartet recognise that Newcastle badly need reinforcements in their first window as the club's owners.
Bottom of the table Newcastle have failed to win a game all season and the black-and-whites are currently six points off safety following a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal on Saturday.
Newcastle's shaky defence was again exposed at the Emirates - no other side has conceded more goals in the Premier League this season - and Shearer feels that Eddie Howe needs a lot of help in January.
"I think he needs at least three or four," Shearer told Premier League Productions. "A couple of defenders, someone with a bit of guile in the midfield and, also, someone to take the weight off Callum Wilson up front in terms of goals.
"That's all right saying that but every single club, other than maybe Chelsea, [Man] City and [Manchester] United, need a forward and someone to put the ball in the back of the net.
"Newcastle's big issue at the minute is defensively. They're nowhere near good enough those defenders that they've relied on for so long.
"They've kept them in the division the last couple of years by playing a certain way but once you open up, once you want to play on the front foot and play attacking football, you leave those defenders exposed and they're not good enough."
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