Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson does not believe former Reds boss Rafael Benitez will be at Newcastle United beyond the end of the season unless the club is sold.
A proposed takeover of the north east giants recently collapsed and Benitez has been left frustrated with the club's failure to land his transfer targets over the last two windows.
Lawrenson watched on for LFC TV on Saturday as Liverpool comfortably saw off Newcastle 2-0 at Anfield to move up into second place in the Premier League standings.
And he believes Benitez will do very well indeed if he can keep Newcastle afloat in the top flight this term.
Lawrenson said of the former Liverpool manager: "I don't see him being there past the end of the season unless they sell.
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"At the end of the season he will be kind of thinking 'you know what, I deserve better than this'.
"You can't have a constant scrap, a battle to try and get players.
"The first transfer window in August they were linked with loads [of players] and hardly got any.
"He will have done really, really well to stay in the league with the players he's got."
And Lawrenson thinks Benitez, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, is used to working with better players than those at Newcastle, with better players able to implement his instructions quicker.
"It's easier coaching better players.
"If you've got Championship players you probably need to tell them two or three times to do something.
"If you've got Champions League players, you tell them once."
Newcastle now sit in 16th spot in the Premier League and just two points above the relegation zone.
