Former Leeds United and Man City defender Danny Mills is urging Newcastle United to act quickly and sort Rafa Benitez's future out.
Benitez's contract runs out at the end of the month and there are fears that he won't sign a new deal.
Club owner Mike Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley met with Benitez last month to thrash out a deal but as of yet there is no agreement.
TV pundit Mills fears that the uncertainty will be having an impact on the players, and has urged the club to get the issue sorted as soon as possible.
Speaking to Football Insider, Mills said: "I think players will want stability, a lot of those players will have signed for Rafael Benitez, not just Newcastle . They’ll be thinking ‘Okay, where’s Rafa going?’ Am I going to play? Rafa likes me, brilliant, then I’ve got a great chance of playing.’
“Suddenly the manager goes, that changes everything. It’s an unusual situation but a lot of those players, I’d say that Rafa was integral as to whether they stay or go. That needs to be nailed down very, very quickly. If it hasn’t been done internally, it needs to be sorted.
“A lot of those players will be thinking ‘I like Rafa, I like the way he plays, he understands me.’ It’s absolutely vital for Newcastle that they nail the managerial position because the rest of the club is pretty unstable and players don’t want to sign for an unstable club.”
A proposed takeover by the Bin Zayed Group has also added confusion to Newcastle's United pre-season perpartations.
