Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has admitted that his side would struggle to keep their players if the big clubs came in for them.

After exceeding expectations and finishing fifth in the Premier League last season, a number of the Magpies' top players have been linked with moves away from the club.

However, while Pardew has insisted that his star men won't be leaving on the cheap this summer, they could still leave St James' Park if Europe's elite came in for them.

"I really don't think as a manager you can beat yourself up about it because we are what we are, we can't compete with those really big guns," said Pardew.

"If they come and they want to pay - and it's going to be very, very expensive for someone like him [Cabaye]. Trust me, he will be inflated - then we have to then go to plan B, which is to get a replacement.

"We like to think we are going to deal with stories like that about all our players. You could say [Papiss] Cisse, [Demba] Ba, Cheick Tiote, Tim Krul, Cabaye, [Fabricio] Coloccini - we have got some great players here. The type of club we are, where we are not in the higher reaches of European football, we haven't got that finance and our players are going to be linked to other clubs."

Newcastle get their new season underway when they host Tottenham Hotspur on August 18.