A round up of all of today’s news and gossip:
- Rafa Benitez has warned Kenedy and his admirers at NUFC that the Chelsea loanee must perform as he has been on a consistent basis before we get overly excited – challenging the Brazilian to compete and perform like he has been on a week in week out basis – See Rafa’s message to the 21-year-old here.
- Some positive news from Sky Sports today, who confirm that Islam Slimani is now in full training with his NUFC teammates and in-line to feature against Man Utd on Sunday – Full story here.
- Ex-NUFC midfielder Joey Barton has admitted that Steve McClaren was keen on bringing him back to the club in 2016 – only for him to be told by Mike Ashley ‘you can have anybody but him!’ – Read his latest comments about Ashley and NUFC here.
- Rafa Benitez believes we need another 15 points in our 12 remaining Premier League games this season, believing the 40 point mark will ‘guarantee’ safety – with him expecting ‘three or four’ sides to accumulate less than that between now and the end of the season – Read Rafa’s comments in full here.
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- Although Islam Slimani’s situation has now been cleared up, the club are sweating on the fitness of Ciaran Clark with the centre-back waiting to see the extent of his knee injury picked up in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace – Full story here.
- According to leading German outlet BLID, Rafa Benitez could be set to make a summer move for in-form Bundesliga striker Sébastien Haller this summer – providing we secure Premier League safety over the coming months. Full story here.
- Rafa Benitez has spoke highly of new signing Martin Dubravka, saying the goalkeeper is “very agile, has personality and has good English”, suggesting he will be ideal to give us ‘another option’ in goal.
- And finally, an outsider looking in has given his assessment of NUFC’s January business, believing Kenedy and Slimani could be the men to fire us to safety over the coming months – Read his piece on the blog here.
