After arriving as our most expensive summer signing, Jacob Murphy’s lack of involvement or impact on the team has concerned a few fans, however Rafa Benitez has offered a promising update on the £12m man, stating he is still a young player who is improving each week in training – believing he will still be a good player for us over the season.
The 22-year old arrived from Norwich as a boyhood Newcastle United fan, having impressed Benitez during our stint in the Championship last season.
Since signing, he’s started one league game away at Swansea – in which he struggled to get into the game – and he has failed to make any real impact in his three other appearances from the bench.
Benitez has spoke out about the winger’s situation this week however, claiming he is not concerned – instead revealing that he is ‘getting better’ and a player he is ‘really pleased’ with:
“You can use the money as an excuse for anything.
“But Matt Ritchie and Christian Atsu also cost us money.
“The main thing is not the money, we signed a player for four or five years – who is a young player – who needed Premier League experience.”
“He is getting better. In every training session there is improvement from him and he is working hard trying to get better.
“I am really pleased with everything. I think he will be a good player for us during the season and also in the future. He is still a young player.”
A positive update from Rafa and promising to hear he is working hard and performing better in training.
He is still young as Benitez alludes to, with this being a timely reminder for us to all keep faith in the England U-21 international.
His time will come.
He won’t amount to much.
Jim(Quote)
He’ll never be his brother, you signed the wrong twin!
Flicky Licky(Quote)