The two favorite players Newcastle fans want Rafa Benitez to sign this summer are goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and winger Kenedy.
Rafa signed Martin on Wednesday – mission accomplished.
And last night the goalkeeper was the Man of the Match in the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in an International friendly played in Slovakia
It will be a lot more difficult to get Kenedy to the club, but the 22-year-old winger has again been saying some positive words about Newcastle.
Kenedy – more positive words about Newcastle
He was talking to ESPN Brazil yesterday about his future and said this:
“Well, I don’t know.” “My contract here (Newcastle) ends at the end of the season.”
“Then I go back to Chelsea, and my agents will decide where to go. Then the battle begins again.”
“At Chelsea there are lots of great players, so the chance was little.”
“So I was not playing in a little while.”
“Then this opportunity came, I was very happy I could come to have continuity, to have more time to play.”
“Yes, it gives more confidence to come back and play.”
“I had a long time without playing, I think I was a year and a little without playing.”
“So I was happy to be able to play in the Premier League again.”
Rafa has told the winger he can get lots of playing time at Newcastle if he comes next season – either on loan or as a permanent buy.
Regular playing time is something he is unlikely to get if he goes to one of the other big clubs after him – PSG, Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Arsenal.
Comments welcome.
67 comments so far
Tsunki
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:20 AM
Comment #1OneAlanShearer –
“It may be down to the actual sound a double consonant introduction makes”
– you have to read the research mate. Don’t shoot the Mbessenger. 🙂
Tsunki
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:22 AM
Comment #2While I would be doubtful Benitez would promise him first team football, I’m almost certain he would have told him his chances of regular first team football and breaking into league recognition would be infinitely higher at NUFC.
Jib
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:25 AM
Comment #3Tsunki
“Newcastle (could,to,might..) miss out on (player, number, target…)…” Has been an Ed cut & paster for years now. Sadly
Why don’t you do a blog Tsunki ?
What’s that ?
You don’t have the brains or the skills and expertise.
Oh dear that’s unfortunate
Put up OR Shut up seems kind of apt here
Ron Knee
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:28 AM
Comment #4Jib@4
Not like you to miss the point.
Bobbybee
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:30 AM
Comment #5We can expect another 300 links by the sound of it. As in last season, as every player we’re allegedly linked with goes elsewhere there’ll be moans and groans.
Not sure Frederick’s was even thought about.
Seems Rafa is looking to bring in about five players if the noise is to be believed. So 295 can be rejected without consideration.
I kinda suspect we won’t know them until the deal is done. Shame, cos I like the look of Sisto. I would take him in a heartbeat.
OneAlanShearer
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:32 AM
Comment #6I will mread it.
Agreed on what rafa likely to have said.
The thing for me is if we get Kenedy back either perm or loan we are starting from the end of last season pretty much in terms of quality in our first xi and balance in terms of known quantities.
Then add a top number 10, a striker or 2, a right back, better competition in central midfield and defence and we know we have to have improved and likely solidified a top ten finish. It also means we can have a real go at the cups.
Without Kenedy we have am unknown and unbalanced on the left side in my humble opinion. We’d need to spend big regardless on a left winger. With no guarantee if he’s from another league he’ll turn put to be as good or better than Kenedy as I don’t see us buying a huge name to guarantee that.
In short I see Kenedy as an absolute must buy or loan.
switch365
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:34 AM
Comment #7Nest headline to be – Rafa plans to buy a new Ferrari?
Bobbybee
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:36 AM
Comment #8Switch, did that yesterday mate! 🙂
Jib
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:42 AM
Comment #9Ron
I don’t seem to have posted @4
Can we assume you were not a Maths teacher ?
Jib
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:47 AM
Comment #10With Rafa being quoted as “there are 5 more signings in the pipeline”
My 5 are
King Sturaro Rodrigues Skrtel Traore
The next Mike Williamson
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:50 AM
Comment #11One Alan Shearer.
You could argue without Kenedy we don’t have any great players in the attacking four positions. We’d be looking at Atsu, Perez, Ritchie, and maybe Gayle as things stand. While Ritchie and Perez are quite good, neither are great or consistent.
RobLeenio
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:54 AM
Comment #12Ben Afri from previous re Beardsley – I don’t know when Beardsley’s contract runs out, but if it’s some time this Summer it seems likely that the club will just let it run down and let him drift off, rather than completing a formal disciplinary process which would damage the reputation of both the club and its academy and a club legend to boot.
After all, there was an upturn in the youth results at the end of the season once Beardsley was no longer involved. One of my favourite players, but it was always debatable how effective he was as a coach.
The next Mike Williamson
Jun 1, 2018 at 10:56 AM
Comment #13My 5 if I was choosing. Maddison, Traore, Kenedy, Abrahams (can’t think of anyone else), and Dawson.
Jail for Ashley
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:00 AM
Comment #14Jiblets,
I hope you stand in dog shit today with your sandals on!
The next Mike Williamson
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:01 AM
Comment #15RobLeenio
They can’t just drop it if the kids have put in a formal complaint. It’s out our hands now I’d imagine.
magic hat
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:09 AM
Comment #16My 5 if I was choosing: Luke shaw (or ghoulam we need a leftback not rightback) striker I’d get is dembele from Celtic I’d get yarmonlenko for a winger. I’m not sure who I’d bring in at centreback. But I’d go for grealish or Barkley for no10 (both English so home grown player status and both young, perhaps expensive though)
OneAlanShearer
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:11 AM
Comment #17My 5 guesses in rafa lotto are (although in the pipeline doesn’t mean it’ll stop there)
Ings
King
On loan – Loftus-Cheek
Kenedy
David López Silva
Oldgit1
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:13 AM
Comment #18If Chelsea is put up for sale they are apparently valued at 1.5b, this in itself will be a justification for Ashley’s price of 400m. Can’t see him selling now.
RobLeenio
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:13 AM
Comment #19Mike, surely if it’s an internal complaint it’s handled internally and the club can deal with it however it sees fit. If that’s to brush it under the carpet, it wouldn’t be the first time. Not saying it’s right, but there are worse injustices in the World.
It seemed to me that the whole situation was born of less maliciousness than ignorance – I think he told a black player (Yassin Ben El-Mhanni?) he should be good at climbing trees or something along those lines. Not acceptable by any measure, but perhaps a product of Beardsley’s generational attitudes rather than a desire to bully and harass. Removing him from the club and any situation where he can repeat his mistake should be punishment enough, I would think.
Ron Knee
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:15 AM
Comment #20Dyslexia Rules. KO, Jib.
Moonraker15
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:35 AM
Comment #21Magic
Luke Shaw staying at Man U but we could never afford him and he ain’t that good anyway! I think Rafa will come up with unknowns as he has a huge network. Look at Dubs! We could probably sell him to Liverpool for 30 million!
I think we must go all out to get Kenedy; that solves the left side problem. Then we need a proven goalscorer and a player like Sturaro in midfield. Then we are starting to go places! How good is Rafa for Newcastle? Probably the only good thing Ashley has done in 11 years at Newcastle! Haha
RobLeenio
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:37 AM
Comment #22My Rafa wish list:
James Maddison (Norwich)
Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo)
Grzegorz Krychowiak (PSG)
Kenedy (Chelsea)
Maximiliano Gomez (Celta Vigo) (dreaming)
Moonraker15
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:39 AM
Comment #23If Ashley does invest “every penny” then it might not be too bad in future. Just look what happened to Sunderland with chronic management from a relatively safe position! Scary cos we won’t see them back in the premier league or probably the championship any time soon!
Mattroge
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:41 AM
Comment #24Obviously you always need to look forwards to improve, the adage about going backwards if you stand still has potentially never been more applicable with the TV money swilling about. However- stating the obvious- it’s how you spend it that counts. There are plenty of teams that have spent a lot more than us & will continue to do so but have they really gotten value for their money? Many haven’t due to many factors e.g. player personality, unsuitability for the league, bad coaching/management, panic buys etc. Obviously we won’t go crazy but I’m confident whatever we have will be used wisely & will be added to a settled & solid starting eleven. We’ll be fine next season. I genuinely have no doubts about that.
Cushy Butterfield
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Comment #25Anybody know what DNA stands for?
Toonfan8
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:52 AM
Comment #26My wishlist: Kenedy, Sturaro, Sisto, King, Nuhu…This would give us Power/athleticism and quality…would improve us hugely…
The next Mike Williamson
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:56 AM
Comment #27I’d love to see Chelsea go down the pan. They haven’t deserved their trophies.
the ledge
Jun 1, 2018 at 11:57 AM
Comment #28i hope you stand in dogshit with your sandals on. hahahaha cracked me up that did jail
Toonfan8
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:00 PM
Comment #29And these are players for long time improvement, as they are still young.
Dúbravka/Elliot
Yedlin/manquillo
Lascelles/Nuhu
Lejuene/Clark
Dummett/Lazaar
Shelvey/merino
Diame/Sturaro
Ritchie/murphy
Sisto/perez
Kenedy/atsu
King/mitrovic
This should be squad for next year, maybe one more cover for lb
Chancel My MBembaship
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:16 PM
Comment #30Cushy Butterfield – if you type that very question directly into Google you’ll get the answer immediately. Typing it here means you’ll have to wait a while. If you need help with Google then ask Jib, he spends all day on there (when he’s not on here, that is).
RobLeenio
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:16 PM
Comment #31Toonfan8 Kasim Nuhu is an interesting one – news outlets in Ghana are confident we’re in talks with Young Boys about a potential transfer.
http://ghanasoccernet.com/newcastle-united-chase-8m-ghana-defender-kassim-nuhu
RobLeenio
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:29 PM
Comment #32I watched those highlights of the Holland – Slovakia match for the Dubravka involvement, but Quincy Promes, who we were linked with a couple of weeks ago, scored a cracking goal for the Netherlands.
Nicky the ball tosser
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:50 PM
Comment #33Right, Fabio from Boro, That brings back memories. Remember the other Fabio, Latin stud and general tabloid mega celebrity of the 1980’s and 90’s, particularly in Australia where women swooned over him en masse, which was a bit odd because Aussie women are pretty much rougher than a pair of hessian undies and don’t generally go in much for the swooning caper. But anyway, back in the day The Sydney Telegraph ran a comp to find a Fabio lookalike among the hoi polloi or bogans, which proved massively popular and ran for ages, until it was finally won by, and get this, Amelie Mauresmo, the French female professional tennis player, and at that time reigning Australian open women’s champion. It was front page news, and to be fair if you google the pair of them you’ll see there is quite an uncanny resemblance.
Tsunki
Jun 1, 2018 at 12:57 PM
Comment #34“Tsunki
“Newcastle (could,to,might..) miss out on (player, number, target…)…” Has been an Ed cut & paster for years now. Sadly
Why don’t you do a blog Tsunki ?
What’s that ?
You don’t have the brains or the skills and expertise.
Oh dear that’s unfortunate
Put up OR Shut up seems kind of apt here”
Jib – at what point did you misunderstand my post? Was it as you came around slowly from your last infusion from the caravan propane bottle? You’re not only thick as anti vandal paint you’re a real bitter piece of work.
Just for educational purposes it was merely a comment on our historical and ongoing fortunes, nothing to do with Eds masterful running of the blog. Take the tube out of your nose and stick to the cough syrup.
Ron Knee
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:02 PM
Comment #35England’s £160 World Cup kit is made in Bangladesh by workers on 21p an hour. (Torygraph)
Mr Funk
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:05 PM
Comment #36My Rafa wish list:
Joe Bryan (LB)
Kenedy (AML)
William Jose (SC)
Maxi Meza (AMC)
????? (DMC)
I still think we could sell both Mitro and Gayle, so second striker could be Joshua King.
Aces-of-Eights
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:07 PM
Comment #37Aww Tsunki and Jib having a lovers tiff. Wedded Bliss at its best
Tsunki
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:07 PM
Comment #38Wouldn’t say Dubravka put on a mint show mind, the only proper save he did looked spectacularly showboaty ha ha. Still, all good practice for our new (currently) Numero Uno 🙂
Aces-of-Eights
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:08 PM
Comment #39If anyone missed it the last time I posted the link the lady getting slapped around is jib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkpIDBtC2c
Tsunki
Jun 1, 2018 at 1:08 PM
Comment #40Err… creepy crawly alert!