Former Newcastle United midfielder Rob Lee has suggested that the current squad needs "major surgery" done to it to drag them away from relegation battles.

The Magpies spent almost £30m during the January transfer window in bringing Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend and Henri Saivet to the club, but still find themselves in the relegation zone following their 5-1 defeat to Chelsea at the weekend.

Lee was happy to see Steve McClaren move for two English players, but suggested that they were not the key areas of the team that needed to be improved.

"They've got a lot of problems. The two players they've bought, Townsend and Shelvey, I like them. But, as much as they are good additions, if you look at it, they weren't essential buys. It's like going to get your groceries and you see something and think, 'I wouldn't mind that'," he told PA.

"But we need a goalscorer, we need a leader at the back, a centre-half, a left-back. We've got [Rolando] Aarons playing there at the moment, he's a young kid and that's not his position. For a club the size of Newcastle, that's ridiculous really. It's like a dam with a crack and you're sticking your finger in the holes but, unless you do major surgery on it, it's going to go.

"Because all the teams that come up and the teams that stay up get a huge amount of money and they'll spend it. If you don't spend it, or you spend a limited amount, people will catch up with you and go past you. In the Premier League, you can't stand still otherwise you're going backwards. I sometimes get criticised for being anti foreign players, which I'm not at all, I want the best players playing in the Premier League, but I think some of them find it very, very difficult.

"I'm surprised they bought Shelvey and Townsend. I've been an advocate for a long time of getting more British players in. When I played we had 11. I know the game's changed but I still think the location of Newcastle and the passion of the fans, I think you need a spine of British players who know the Premier League."

Lee also gave Newcastle his backing to avoid relegation this season, despite admitting that his former club had been "awful".