London – Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew admits his best players could leave in the summer even if they qualify for the Champions League.
Newcastle go into their final match of the Premier League season on Sunday in fifth, needing victory over Everton on Sunday and a slip-up from either Arsenal or Tottenham to pinch a top-four spot.
Pardew's side have impressed but the manager knows that even if they do qualify, top players like Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa are vulnerable to Europe's biggest spenders.
“It's impossible to restrict Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City from coming in for one of our players,” Pardew told BBC Newcastle.
“We have players who are not on the salaries these top clubs can offer.”
“Demba's release clause has been widely publicised, there is some truth to it, and some untruth,” said Pardew. “There is a clause there. There is a situation with his contract and we are in talks with him and his agent.
“The one security I have is that (owner) Mike Ashley is a difficult seller. He is not going to let someone go for £7 million, he is going to want top, top money.
“But if Yohan Cabaye gets a call from Manchester United and they tell him he is going to be the next Paul Scholes I am not going to be able to stop him.
“It is going to cost Manchester United a shedload of money, but until we have Champions League football, and we might have that by this weekend, we can not compete with that,” Pardew said. – Sapa-dpa