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Rafa Benitez doesn’t need to be reminded about the clamour for new signings at Newcastle United this summer.

The Toon boss took in the club’s 1892 Foundation Cup event at the club’s Academy yesterday but was eager to show he was far from disconnected from the club’s transfer talks by displaying to journalists he was constantly carrying two mobile phones with him at all times.

Benitez, who has also been overseeing double training sessions, has stood back from training a few times in the last couple of weeks to take calls while his staff monitor the pre-season work of the players.

(Image: The Chronicle)

But while he was eager to keep his cards close to his chest regarding the names of targets, Benitez found it tough going to dodge questions on transfers.

Indeed, a little Geordie kid waiting for selfie with Rafa wasted no time seeing where United stood on recruitment.

Benitez, who seemed in good spirits about life at United yesterday, said: “One of the children asked for a picture and then asked me: ‘Which player will you sign in the future?’

“We couldn’t answer the question so I just said concentrate on the football!”

However, as prices soar in this summer’s window - with Gylfi Sigurdsson now priced at £50million by Swansea City - Benitez admitted the club were finding things tough at the moment.

He added: “We know where we are.

“Everybody wants to see a lot of players signed up already but we have to keep working.

“We can do nothing else.

“We have to find the players we want and hopefully we can do it.”

Behind the scenes, United are refusing to panic about transfers and while they are keen to get deals done quickly, they also know that this summer’s window could see movement on some transfers happen towards the end of the window.

For example, Liverpool are reluctant to loan out Sheyi Ojo until they have completed their summer shopping list and the same can be said for other clubs who have parked loan bids until their recruitment is done.

With Newcastle knowing they have limited funds compared to everybody else in the Premier League they know they must play the waiting game on certain deals.