Newcastle United have a large squad with plenty of talent in the first team plus strength in depth. This allows Rafael Benitez to rotate his team and still come out with positive results.

Newcastle should never have been relegated given the money that they spent and the players that they acquired. Now they are back in the Championship, they are widely tipped to bounce straight back up because of how talented their squad is. Further to this, Benitez has invested wisely in the club this summer; recruiting players with plenty of talent as well as those with Championship experience.

The Magpies are not light in any department but this means that there are a number of players who are not getting the game time that they might like. Whilst Newcastle managed to shift some deadwood this summer, they ended up mostly sending their surplus players out on loan, such as Sammy Ameobi, Henri Saivet, Emmanuel Riviere and Siem de Jong.

Here are THREE players who Newcastle have held onto for too long and need shifting in January...

Curtis Good

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Curtis Good joined Newcastle from Melbourne Heart back in summer 2012 as a highly-rated prospect.

The once-capped Australian has only made one appearance ever for the Magpies, in the League Cup against Morecambe.

After short loan stints with Bradford and Dundee United, Newcastle failed to get rid of the 23-year-old this summer and should look to offload him in January so that Good can relaunch his stalling career.

Massadio Haidara

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Massadio Haidara has struggled with injuries in recent times and it has now been over a year since his last start for the Magpies.

With 18 months left on his contract, Newcastle might look to cash in on the 23-year-old because he is too much on an injury risk.

Benitez already has Paul Dummett, Jesus Gamez and Achraf Lazaar who can all be deployed at left back so Haidara's future at St. James' Park looks bleak.

Cheick Tiote

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It's hard to imagine that Newcastle would be ignoring Cheick Tiote after how dominant he was a few years back.

However, the Ivory Coast international is a shadow of his former self and Newcastle have been desperately trying to get him off the books.

The 30-year-old has played fifteen minutes of football for the Magpies this season and could be set for a move to Turkey, China or elsewhere in January.