Highly-rated youngster handed big chance by Benitez after impressing at NUFC

After pictures were shared of the first team being put through their paces yesterday, it has emerged that highly-rated 19-year-old midfielder Mo Sangare was offered the chance to impress Benitez and train with the first team squad on Thursday.

The 6ft 3′ box-to-box midfielder has been impressing for the U-23’s in recent months, with him getting on the scoresheet in this week’s 3-0 victory over Colchester United in the Premier League Cup.

Whilst snow has prevented the players training outdoors, the first-team squad were put through their paces in the indoor facility at the Benton training base, with the pictures below showing Sangare mixing it with the senior players for the first time:

Stand in NUFC U-23 coach Ben Dawson told the Chronicle just how delighted he was by his progress, however he admits that the powerful midfielder still has a lot to learn:

“I think more recently Mo Sangare has started to step up to another level. He still has a lot of work to do in terms of game understanding.

 “We’re still not sure exactly which position he will play. He has played as an 8 and a little bit as a 4.

“We’ve asked him to take a bit of responsibility in terms of doing an extra five minutes before training each day on the bounce boards to work on his touch.

“He is so powerful that he often isn’t set. It looks at times like he’s sloppy but he’s got that much power.

“If we can get a little bit more quality out of him and a little bit more game understanding, we will see where that takes him.”

Good luck to the lad – hopefully he’s one who we see playing for the first team in the coming years.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *