With Newcastle set to make their eagerly anticipated Premier League return against Spurs at St. James’ Park next month, here’s three players we believe could surprise a few next season:
Florian Lejeune
He may not have been the Premier League proven centre half we were anticipating but Lejeune comes with a growing reputation in Spain. A late developer at 26, he arrives off the back of an impressive season with Eibar as they performed above expectations to secure a 10th place finish.
Florian Lejeune – 16/17 pic.twitter.com/U1C6Eqxi8K
— John (@jbxnufc) June 21, 2017
Trying to avoid the Dennis Wise style YouTube scouting, it has become clear that many La Liga experts feel he is a perfect fit for English football. Tall, athletic and with a decent turn of pace, he could prove to a shrewd addition at £8.7m, which is looking more and more like peanuts in the modern market.
He also has a point to prove after signing for Manchester City a few years back and never making an appearance for them. He has thrived at smaller clubs and now has the opportunity to deliver on the big stage and under a world class manager. With Newcastle already having Clark, Mbemba and Lascelles on the books, Rafa clearly feels Lejeune is a quality option to decide to bring him in. One to watch with interest next season.
DeAndre Yedlin
Yedlin has of course played in the Premier League before with both Tottenham and Sunderland. His electric pace and athleticism is there for all to see but he was often criticised for not having the positional sense or defending prowess to become a top Premier League full back.
His last loan spell at Sunderland seemed like a real improvement though and with the help of Big Sam, became far more solid defensively. As Newcastle fans know, Big Sam brings boring football but good organisation.
Yedlin continued to improve under Rafa last year and after a long tussle with Anita for the RB slot, made it his own by the end of the season. With Anita released, Rafa clearly sees Yedlin as mainstay of his squad next year. Like some others in the squad, not making the grade at other clubs and loan spells here and there will hopefully motivate Yedlin to push on next year.
Jonjo Shelvey
Shelvey is a player with plenty of top flight pedigree from spells with Swansea and Liverpool and even has been capped by England. He has however somewhat flattered to deceive; brilliant some weeks and invisible the next. Newcastle fans certainly witnessed his clear talent in the Championship last year, along with disciplinary issues.
He certainly won’t be given the same time on the ball to dictate games as he did last year, as we come up against far stronger opposition. He is coming up to his prime physically and can hopefully use his talent to put in some consistent performances next year. He returned to pre-season weeks earlier than needed to shed weight and be ready for the new year; so he clearly has a point to prove and is eager to surprise a few come August.
Newcastle clearly need more signings but Rafa will also be hoping the likes of Lejeune, Yedlin and Shelvey can step up next year. We do have a squad that will have a point to prove next year: Clark will want to prove his ability at the top level after an awful relegation with Villa, Perez needs to finally realise his potential and Dwight Gayle will be determined to finally become a Premier League regular. Here’s hoping our squad comes together ready for Tottenham come the 13th of August.
Let us know who you feel could be next seasons surprise package or shining light for NUFC?
Stu – his stats were better in a mid table Norwich side, than Gouffrans in a title winning side mate, so it’s an upgrade in that sense.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Plus he’s just a young kid learning the ropes what better manager to help you in that end,goofy is coming to the end of his game
Icedog(Quote)
Well I suppose if he’s better than Gouffran it’s an improvement, but to be fair, I’m not sure Gouffran is a PL player at all.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – the kid defo has the ability, it’s whether he has the confidence/arrogance to take it into the PL. I guess only time will tell.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I love the subtle directness of Rafas comments to Ashley. The talks went really well & I came out positive – over to you Mike – become the hero or villain … your choice fat man ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Funnily enough, Sharpy, the nearest Pardew came to getting sacked apparently was when he was on Goals On Sunday and said a few things about Jabba. That’s shows a lot about him considering how bad somethings actually got under Pardew on the pitch.
Wonder whether Jabba is thinking along similar lines or he just no longer gives a ****.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – Rafa has had to negate some power men – Roman at Chelsea, is it Perez at Real?!. I fancy wor Rafa has the measure of Mike & knows just how to play it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Calum Chambers supposedly going to Palace for 20mil, and Gibbs to WB for 12 million. That’s a lot but it is not the stupid money we have seen for others. And they are English and PL. There may be hope that we can get a few foreign players signed for not outrageous fees. There’s still almost 6 weeks to go.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
has he ever given a **** though ?
Kimtoon(Quote)
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/894272593?-11058:809:3
This one could be one that slip under the radar.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Dont know much about him Sharpy but aounds promising that things are beginni g to move now.
shamrock(Quote)
Anyone know anything about Manquillo? Was at the scum apparently . . .
The one thing we’ll get from Murphy is effort and he did score against us twice. Been told he’s also comfortable through the middle. Our new striker?
georgio(Quote)
No mate, me neither other than he was on loan at Sunderland last season.
But what I would feel pretty confident on is Rafa having good info on Madrid based players like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Gamez???
Stuart79(Quote)
Ime still waiting on who IMO we need the most a m/f player and striker
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – I reckon they’ll be the most difficult to get. They’ll cost the most.
Stuart79(Quote)
Ice – I think there will need to be a few movements happen before our forward is know mate. The likes of Costa, Morata, PEA – them moving will have a rippling effect on other forwards either being allowed to leave (like Batshuyi), but it will also mean they will need replacing – and our targets may be seen as their replacements – the forward situation could be sorted nearer the end of the window I reckon.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good shout Sharpy.
Icebwe badly need a quality and consistent central midfielder. Im not convinced Shelvey is that man. Hayden is steady and will keep improving but we need more than juat those 2 – in fact I’d say we need 2 CM’S.
shamrock(Quote)
Agree 100% mate but the money must be spent or down we go again,we only have a injury prone Dwight
Icedog(Quote)
Rafa Benitez talking to The Mail:
“I could go away and make some money. If you go to China you can make a lot of money.
‘The priority for me was to stay. I decided to stay because of the fans, the club, the possibilities for the future and to stay in England close to my family.
‘Then the meeting was crucial to convince me to stay. Mike told me “We have this money, it is available, it’s OK”, so, fine, we were happy with that.’
“In January we didn’t sign players but we had £30m ready for the future, so now we are in a situation where we are going slowly but I still have confidence that everything will be fine after my meeting with Mike.
“He said that he would give us every last penny so hopefully he will do it and I’m confident that he will.
“I still have confidence that he will keep his word. We have the resources to do what we wanted and now we have to do it.
“I asked if I can spend all the money on one player or if I must spend it on many players.
“Mike said the budget is mine and I can do what I want with the numbers he has given me. It is the same with wages.
“We still have time to buy players until the end of next month and I am confident we will.”
So maybe Charnley and those brokering the deals are the problem in all this?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Possibly mate. I still feel Jabba has many faces and I will never totally trust him and no sane manager would either given his form.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Sky are saying that Ojo from Liverpool can go out on loan and can choose between Fulham, Boro and NUFC. If he has any ambition he would choose NUFC but might be persuaded that he would get more playing time at he others.
Don’t know much about the lad except he is another pacy winger. If we get him I think that’s where we should stop for now with the wingers and concentrate on the midfield and especially a striker.
That would give us Ritchie, Atsu, Murphy, Aarons and Ojo on the wings who would all vie for playing time. Aarons could be the best of the lot if only he could stay fit. Maybe Ritchie or Murphy could be backup number 10s? That’s a problem position for us and also needs to be addressed if Rafa doesn’t like playing a target man.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Think the problem with the Liverpool kid is that Liverpool think he will get more game time in The Championship than in PL. Probably have a point tbf.
Regards Rafa and Ashley, he must have told him what the budget was and Rafa was obviously happy. Mark Douglas at the Chronicle reckons that Charnley has this obsession with “the perfect deal” and maybe that’s why it’s been slow?
Stuart79(Quote)
Javier Manquillo is having a medical too! Wasn’t he on loan at Sunderland last season??
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: I think playing time is a sticking point with these loan deals. Mark Douglas said that for Abraham Chelsea wanted financial penalties as high as 8 figures if he was not played enough. At 19 I doubt Rafa would have played him enough!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I watched the Man U friendly last night and man do they have a bloated squad. There could be a player or 2 there for loans, even some better known such as Blind or Smalling? The only problem is that a lot of Man U players turn out to be a bit mediocre upon leaving, so I would be wary of outright purchases.
Of course there are exceptions such as Ronaldo and Van Nistlerooy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
yep and at Liverpool too, don’t remember him being that special but maybe Rafa feels he can get something out of him.
Kimtoon(Quote)
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Two signings in less than 24 hours for #nufc. Jacob Murphy has lots of potential and makes sense. Javier Manquillo needs to improve a lot
Kimtoon(Quote)
kim, is the website any better for you? I was worried when you said give up. It won’t be the same here if you don’t come.
funrafa(Quote)
About Ojo, Liverpool and himself want some guarantee of a start place according to Liverpool Echo. I can see Rafa told them that no guarantee can be provided and he has to fight for his chance. If Fulham gave them the guarantee, I see Ojo goes to Fulham.
funrafa(Quote)
Manquillo has spent the last 3 seasons on loan, but had decent game time with Marseille, Liverpool & Sunderland.
As I said earlier, I have confidence Rafa will be well informed on Madrid based players – though I’m not sure what info he was given on Gamez like.
2 new young signings in a couple of days. Happy with that, and hopefully more to come.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’d be looking at taking a risk on Jack Wiltshire. He’s in the last year of his contract and I reckon he’d be reasonably priced. He’s got huge potential if he can stay fit…
Stuart79(Quote)
Yes mate, much quicker today thanks. I give up was just a figure of speech lol. Mind you I did say to my friend last night that I might stay off a while as I was getting very hacked off. I was on lots of different links yesterday and previously with no problems, it was only on here I had issues for some reason. Anyway all good today, hope it last.
Kimtoon(Quote)
If being the operative word mate.
Kimtoon(Quote)
While Ashley may not do much to inspire trust, is it not now the case that the fans have to decide whether to trust Benitez and it becomes his problem to manage Ashley
GlosMag(Quote)
lol, That is good to know. Yes I hope it lasts.
funrafa(Quote)
Lets hope that young Spanish lad Victor Fernandez does well
Kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – I’m pleased Rafa is including some of the young uns in these squads. Got to do a better job of feeding them through to the 1st team squad & this should help.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – saw that on SSN earlier mate that Sampdoria are looking at a deal totalling around £7.5m – which seems a great price. But his inuries are a huge worry, and with Aaron’s & De Jong as talented sicknotes, not sure we need another.
Plus, I reckon Wiltshire would still want a big wage coz he believes his own hype and his team will demand it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Could be sour grapes but a few scum fans say he’s woeful and the heart of a pea Moyes soon dropped him
Icedog(Quote)
I think Manquillo at least is usable, as he is young and tested in PL at Liverpool and Sunderland. It is not like Gamez who we can seldom use due to his physical situation or the difficulty to adjust to the games in PL. The question is how much he can improve unde Rafa. Anyway I am not that worried.
funrafa(Quote)
He played 20 times in the PL last term. Lost his way and was dropped mid season but fi ished last 7 or 8 games in 1st team. Played on right wing a couple of times but started out the season at right back then finished season at left back. Played equal amount of games at both left and right back, so he is versatile if nothing else.
shamrock(Quote)
Dont know if this is true, but 1 Sunderland fan says’ “‘He got kept out of the squad because we looked doomed/sunk and he had a buying clause set at something like 13 million euros after 25 games.’
shamrock(Quote)
From ‘Dublin Live’… Rafa talking about the facilities in the Irish Camp and about world tours in the summer;
“We were happy with the way everything was organised, the pitches, the staff, everybody was helping.
“Sometimes you want to go to Australia to make money – that makes no sense when you have to settle down in the Premier League.
“You have to be sure and in control of everything from day one, and then you can work in a way that will improve the team, not just having a team travelling around the world.”
Despite staying in Ireland, Newcastle will not be joining British sides such as Hearts, Charlton Athletic, Burnley, and Celtic in playing pre-season games against League of Ireland sides.
But Benitez says his side’s lack of fixtures in Ireland was simply an issue of bad timing, with their opening game against Spurs less than a month away.
“We couldn’t come earlier”, he said.
“I think Burnley were here, and we have to organise everything in the best way possible for us.
“The number of games and the level of the opponents, all of these you have to control when you’re trying to be the best you can be against Tottenham.
“We couldn’t manage too many more games.”
Benitez was also quizzed on the futures of both Daryl Murphy and Rob Elliot, two Irish players who have been linked with a move away from St. James’ Park this summer.
Murphy has been the subject of interest from Aston Villa, among others, and the Newcastle boss confirmed they had been listening to offers for the former Ipswich Town man.
“A lot of teams, the are interested”, Benitez said.
“We have been in contact with some of them – he has also, we’re aware of that.
“We will see what happens.”
He added that he wants to keep former Charlton stopper Elliot around to increase competition for his goalkeeping spots, after admitting he will let long-standing number one Tim Krul leave the club.
“He’s a good keeper, he’s working very hard”, he said.
“I’m trying to bring in another keeper to compete.
“In any team, you have to compete with someone else, and I think he knows that’s the idea. He’s training well and I’ve a lot of confidence in him.”
shamrock(Quote)
That makes sense, as I read somewhere saying he was dropped all of sudden after a good performance.
funrafa(Quote)
Ice – to be fair, other than Pickford, who wasn’t woeful for them ?.
I’ll go with Rafas judgement over a few people who prove how much they know about football by the team they support ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
WE SHOULD STAY FAR AWAY FROM WILSHERE. Here is his injury record and many of them kept him out for Months. And he keeps injuring the same parts of his body:
2011/12 Stress ankle fracture, out for the season
2012/13 Missed games resulting in ankle surgery
2013/14 Hairline fracture of foot, slow recovery and out months longer than expected
2014/15 Surgery on Ankle ligaments
2015/16 Broke fibula in preseason, more surgery, out for months.
2016/17 Hairline fracture of fibula.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yeah Wilshere is a NO from me as well. Dan Gosling kept him out of the side last season. He is done.
shamrock(Quote)
Doesn’t look too good for Darlow from what Rafa says above.
Stuart79(Quote)
Wilshere keeps getting stress fractures and they keep him out for months longer than the Dr.s expect so he also doesn’t heal well. He has pins in his ankle.
I don’t think he is worth the risk, even on a free because he would want wages at the top of our pay scale to sit on the physios table.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Nor Krul. Looks like he wants Elliot as backup and competition for an experienced first teamer, whilst grooming Woodman to take over.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The Rafa quotes on the pre-season do not explain why we are playing low profile opposition like Mainz and Hellas Verona in our “prestige” preseason games. Sure, it might not be a good idea to go to Aus or China this year because we need to get headstart with so many changes to make, but that doesn’t mean we could not get more interesting games in Europe. Someone like Ajax or Porto or Sevilla.
I know I am beating a dead horse, but Bournemouth have Napoli and Brighton have Athletico Madrid FFS.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Even though Newcastle are on the verge of adding Manquillo and Murphy to the squad, Benitez is keen to ensure the spending continues.
He does not think his squad is capable of challenging for a mid-table position and in an ideal world he would like to have an even greater push for a top ten spot.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle/15418902.Newcastle__Rafa_closes_in_on_double_signing_and_he_wants_players_who_want_to_play_for_the_club_like_Murphy/
funrafa(Quote)
Well chuffed that we have Murphy in the bag, also ok with Manquillo as I trust Rafa’s judgement. Just good to see some incoming… also quite ok to see Gouff go.. he did well and I wish him well but for the prem we need better. Still hoping for a big striker signing coming in…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Rafa – that article says Manquillo is 27 – he’s not, he’s 23.
I’m getting seriously sick and tired of rushed or lazy journalism. These people are in such a hurry to pump these articles out that accuracy comes 2nd now – and that should never be the case.
Getting the details of the person you’re writing about or worse, adding a photo of the wrong person to your article should never happen.
I like what Rafa is saying, but this tool that has put the article together should be fined!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Rafa’s track history for Toon full backs: 1) Yedlin. – Hit. 2) Gamez – Miss. 3) Lazaar – Miss.
Fingers crossed he gets this one right! I like the fact the new guy can cover both positions though.
shamrock(Quote)
So far we are just upgrading a few spots and I expect a bigger splash for a midfielder and a goalscorer. Our net spend hasn’t really been anything and we will be able to shift some fringe players like Hanley, Darlow and Colback. There have been offers but they were deemed not good enough.
Others that might not be in demand like Riviere can be written off because every team does some bad deals. If De Jong and Saivet don’t make it in preseason we can probably loan them out. This happens at every club and the total outlay for all 3 of these players was about 16 million.
You can compare that to Sissoko which is an easy option. But how about Slimani at Leicester who cost 29 million and is 29 years old who they want rid of after a year.
We all follow NUFC closely and sometimes miss the big picture, that our flops were bought for a relatively small amount before the new TV deal and so are not that relevant so long as we stay on the Premier League gravy train.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Oh, and the Fat Man insisted previously on paying cash for transfers so there are no ongoing payments for the likes of Riviere and Saivet. They have been accounted for in previous years’ books and all we have to do is pay wages which if we can loan them will be partially offset.
Rafa has sort of a blank slate. We probably lost a bit of money last year, but remember Fatty increased his loan in January to cover wages so even after saying he will not put anymore money in we have a clean set of books because he doesn’t want the loan back until he sells.
I would still like to see an injection of cash from say China, or the Middle East just to give Rafa some real money to play with.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I am not convinced about Manquillo however it is clear Rafa is trying to shop on a budget so what kind of player can/should we expect…?
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy, I agree it was a bad mistake. Although I didn’t notice it the first time when I read it, mistakes like this do hurt the author and the whole article’s credibility.
funrafa(Quote)
I am expecting g De Jong to have a good season though. He’s a quality player and if he stays injury free he will be a key player. “Like a new signing!” ?
Stuart79(Quote)
Rafa – I just think if you are referring to yourself as ‘chief football reporter’ you have a responsibility to write accurate reports.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – I’ve never swayed from my support of the signing of De Jong. Gutted for him & his injuries, but I still believe the lad is a talent & if he can stay fit (big if) then i think he’s a player who will improve our team – he will contribute with goals & assists IMO.
Sharpy17(Quote)
We should know soon if he is over the 2 collapsed lungs. That was the major worry as I am not sure that an athlete can get to 100%. He had a couple of other injuries, remember he got poked in the eye, almost lost it, and was out for a couple of months just as it looked like he was getting up to speed.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know mate, but I think if anyone can manage him properly it’s Rafa. He can use him sparingly or adapt his training to reduce the strain outside of game time.
I’d love us to go get Samaris, coz he looks the complete midfielder with a real engine on him. He, Perez & De Jong would do for that no.10 spot I reckon.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: the problem is that the PL has moved on from players like de Jong. It is all about speed and power or both, the high press, the running all day. They even have technical skill to go with it.
Maybe Rafa will find a way to play him in some sort of Bergkamp role and have these young whippets he is buying do the running. We don’t really have a number 10 on the books so I hope it works or that we buy one.
Perez too inconsistent. Diame not a number 10. Rafa doesn’t like Mitro and Gayle together.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ex scum player Gray has real doubts about the full back we have signed said he was poor at scum and unless Rafa sees something nobody else has seen he has doubts he will do anything
Icedog(Quote)
I think the PL has even moved on since we bought de Jong. You have Pep, Conte, Poch, Klopp, Eddie Howe and others who flog their players to death in training to harass the other team for 90 minutes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
nice to see in comings but it’s fair to say we haven’t had what I would call a marquee signing yet to really excite us. An untested Frenchman, championship winger and Sunderland/pool ex player and Atsu who we already had . Wish them all well but boy do we need some stardust in mf and up front.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Olly just wrote an article on Slimani who cost Leicester 29 mil and they want to offload after they bought him from Sporting Lisbon where he got 27 goals in 33 games in his final season. Remind you of someone? BAS DOST perhaps, who just scored a boat load in his only season at Sporting and now they want a king’s ransom for him.
Portugal is a really difficult league to judge a player because there are really only 3 teams – Sporting, Benfica and Porto – the others are mediocre at best. So you play a decent team 4 times a season if you are at Sporting and can tee-off on the rest. It is a bit like playing for Celtic. Can you really trust the goalscoring stats when they play a load of dross every week? I think Celtic were 30 points ahead last year.
I have said this before but Olly put up a link of Slimani to NUFC so I think it is worth repeating.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Difference is Bas Dost has smashed them.in everywhere he has been.
shamrock(Quote)
*At a half decent level compared to Slimani.
It is a lot of money though…
shamrock(Quote)
Bas Dost in Hollland where I could say Jensen and Van Wolfswinkel. You could reply Van Nistlerooy 🙂
He was never first choice at Wolfsburg in 4 years there but did have a decent strike rate for them.
I am not saying Dost is no good, just you have to take into account the quality of the opposition when to elevate a player from 10 million to 40 million Euros.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
How’s this for a bit of sleight of hand. West Ham are paying Joe Hart 2.5 million in wages. They are then paying City a loan fee of 2 million who are then turning around and paying this to Hart as part of his wages. This is so West Ham don’t violate their wage structure. C’mon, if I can work this out I am sure the Agents of other players can.
Typical of the Bongo brothers and Karen Brady.
Also, Hart says outside of local London teams everybody loves West Ham. Eh Kimtoon 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think my order of preference would be:
Batshuyi
Bas Dost
Slimani
I see there is a lot of talk about this Diego Rolan again. Can only assume there is an element of truth about it as the journos have material with Murphy & Manquillo to not have to make stuff up. Really don’t know a great deal about him to be honest.
Sharpy17(Quote)