Former Newcastle United defender Staurt Pearce believes that goalkeeper Karl Darlow and defender Jamaal Lascelles are not ready for Premier League football yet.

Pearce was Nottingham Forest manager when the Championship club sold the pair to Newcastle last summer for a fee in the region of £7m, before loaning them back for this season.

Darlow and Lascelles will be hoping that they can force their way into the Newcastle side next season, but Pearce says that the duo are signings for the future and not for now.

"Well, they are both outstanding lads, without question," Pearce told The Chronicle. "Their character is first-class. However, I don't think they are ready yet to go straight into the Premier League. Both the club and the fans will have to give them time and encouragement.

"They are potential rather than the finished article. Darlow more or less played in my first team regularly but Lascelles not quite so much. He will require a bit more time. However, from their point of view the move is ideal. They weren't about to play for a Premier League club staying at Forest but now hopefully they are.

"Though I fell out with the chairman over the deal I told both lads they were going to a fantastic football club with passionate fans. I knew that from first-hand experience."

Darlow has made 43 appearances for Forest this season, while Lascelles has played 27 times.