Rafa Benitez has urged NUFC new boy Yoshinori Muto to stop ‘complaining’ and ‘waiting’ for the referee to give decisions he’s expecting to get – but has insisted that he’s giving his all in every single training session.
The Spaniard has praised his ‘commitment’, ‘passion’ and ‘work rate’ in training, however he admits that he’s still adapting to Premier League football – with him critical of his ability to play to the whistle.
Here’s what Rafa has said when asked about the Japanese international this week:
“What I can see every training session is commitment, passion, work rate, but still you can see he was fouled a couple of times (against Palace) and the referee didn’t give a foul, so he was complaining and waiting.
“So he needs to understand that the Premier League is different, and then you have to carry on.”
Benitez then admitted that he will need time to settle, but insists once again that he has been ‘positive’ in ‘every training session’:
“Some players, they need one year. Some players, they six months. Some players, they need one month.
“So, for a new player, always you have given him some time, and he has to be as positive as he is in every training session.”
Whilst Muto is yet to make any real impact since he signed for £9.5m earlier in the summer, he’s hardly been given much of a chance.
Aside from his one and only start in our Carabao Cup defeat at Forest, he’s only managed five or ten minute cameos here and there, so it may be wise to judge him once he’s finally given a run of starts.
In fairness, he’s often looked more lively than Perez in his short appearances from the bench, so I’d be inclined to give him his first league start against Leicester on Saturday – although Rafa rarely drops his fellow Spaniard..
