Leeds United chief criticises Lee Charnley decision at Newcastle United

The club used the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough Steve Nickson and his colleagues on 80% of their wages late last month.

However, Nickson, the club’s head of recruitment, has reportedly returned to work at the club, set for a £300million takeover, after a three-week lay-off.

Speaking on a SciSports webinar, Orta said: "I heard that a team in England furloughed the people for the scouting department.

"It sounds like I’m talking about myself, but I believe this ... in this moment, when you need creativity, new resources to sign players, a new era, the department that perhaps needs more investment at this moment is the recruitment department.

"The marketing department always has a ceiling, you can have the best workers in marketing but you have a ceiling, in the other departments you always have a limit to generate resources for your club. In the football department you can buy a player for £1million and sell for £15million in one year.

"If any CEO thinks that the way to pass this crisis period is to cut the scouting department, for me it is the opposite.

"Invest more in the scouting department to try and find finances and develop solutions immediately for your club."

Newcastle have been linked with a number of players since news of the takeover broke, including a shock swoop for Phillipe Coutinho.