Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez admits £5m isn't enough to buy quality these days.

Benitez, whose current contract expires this summer, has invoked fine tailoring as a metaphor for what big money buys a club these days... and says for £5m you get a player who can just “kick the ball forward."

He said: “If you go to buy a suit with £1,000, you go to this section [of the shop], if you go with £10,000 then you go to this one. It's easy to see the clothes [there] are much better. Even if, like me, you don't have a clue about clothes, you can see the quality is better.

“Today, someone who kicks the ball forward costs £5m. [Someone] to put the ball in the net is £25m. So it's very difficult to compete.

“But I think we are getting better. In terms of how many players we need? To get close to the top six if very difficult. You have to be sure the characters you buy are right. You cannot spend £50m on one player. Maybe you have one for less who can do similar things."