With Newcastle’s Premier League status so dodgy at the moment, it’s difficult to look forward too much to the summer and the upcoming transfer window, because depending on whether we stay up or not will determine the type of players we will sign this summer and they will be completely different.
If we stay in the Premier League they could be stellar players that Rafa brings in and if we take the drop they will be players who can help us get out of the Championship at the first attempt, as we did in season 2009-2010 under Chris Hughton.
We have every faith in Rafa Benitez and hope he can save us from the drop but he hasn’t been given many games – 10 in all to do that – starting at league leaders Leicester City last night where we narrowly lost 1-0 and in general the team played very well, but we missed our chances.
Keita Balde Diao – fancied by Benitez?
If Rafa does stay then he will not only attract good players to the club, but he may already know some good players we should sign because of his recent work at Naples and recently at Real Madrid – maybe the world’s most famous football club.
One such player being mentioned in reports is Lazio left winger Keita Balde Diao, who is a 21 year-old who was strongly linked with Liverpool twenty months ago – and there were also reports Rafa Benitez was interested in him when he was hired at Real Madrid last June.
By the summer Rafa will have by then seen the strengths and mainly the weaknesses of the current Newcastle side – and being a common sense and very experinced top line manager – will want to strengthen the weaker positions at the club.
Something that hasn’t been done over the last two or three years at Newcastle we may add.
The youngster started his career with the Barcelona Youth Academy back in 2004 when he was nine years old – and he finally moved to Lazio in 2013 for £210K.
His contract at the Italian club still has two years to run in the summer.
Keita made his league debut for Lazio back in September of 2013 in the 3–0 home win against Chievo and the 5’11” tall player has so far played 95 times for Lazio with 15 goals and 19 assists.
He was born in Arbucies in Catalonia, Spain to Senegalese parents and has played once for the Catalonia National side.
We hope we do sign Keita because that would mean Rafa Benitez has somehow managed to save us and we are still a Premier League club.
It would also mean that Rafa Benitez is in charge of all transfers at the club and not Chief Scout Graham Carr, and it would further mean we are on our way to building a great side again on Tyneside.
Just thinking about that cheers us up no end.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
6 comments so far
cyprus
Mar 15, 2016 at 2:15 PM
Comment #1Ed,
In fairness you have to start a little chart for Rafa as well, like you did for John and Steve 🙂
Essex Geordie Bill
Mar 15, 2016 at 2:17 PM
Comment #2Thats what I like to see Ed, optimism.
Let’s start speculating on our new Prem Summer signings.
Essex Geordie Bill
Mar 15, 2016 at 2:19 PM
Comment #3Just missed the bus on this post.
Hibbit
Who’s chucking in the towel, I would think most of us are willing the team on to stay up, I reckon most of the street heard me shouting at the TV last night. to my wifes despair.
At the same time I reckon most of us can see the realism of our situation. Not so much a chucking in of the towel more of a girding of the loins.
–
cyprus
Mar 15, 2016 at 2:23 PM
Comment #4Managers, even borderline gods (as is Rafa, evidently) don’t have time to be scouring the world for hidden talent. And the obvious talent is there for all to see. Scouts (able ones) are still needed. He can assess, request, say yes or no.
Centralised management, where everything passes through one man, no matter how able, is over. Imagine if an organisation like IBM worked that way. Watson’s days are over… Imagine the cacophony of a one-man band, vs. the London Philharmonic.
Having said all this Carr has sure fxxxxd up. 100 mil. + and still bottom.
Tsunki
Mar 15, 2016 at 2:40 PM
Comment #5Yeah this useless Benitez has a 100% loss rate get rid! 😀
c-dog
Mar 15, 2016 at 6:24 PM
Comment #6Was an improved performance last night but tactics go out the window in a derby a lot of the time.
Hopefully this summer(if we stay up) we sign some intelligent footballers. Wijnaldum & Mbemba are all right but are not capable of leading from their positions. The rest have been diabolical.