New Liverpool signing Georginio Wijnaldum has stated that Rafael Benitez had urged him to stay put at Newcastle United.
After much speculation, Georginio Wijnaldum made a move to Premier League outfit Liverpool and the midfielder is believed to have cost the Reds a fee of around £25 million.
The Newcastle United faithful would have preferred to seen Wijnaldum stay put at St. James’ Park this summer but the sizeable transfer fee received from the sale of the Dutchman has certainly gone a long way towards softening the blow.
Overall, the transfer seems to be beneficial for all three parties involved but despite the cash windfall received by Newcastle, it has been revealed that manager Rafael Benitez really wanted to keep hold of Wijnaldum.
Speaking following the completion of his move to Anfield, Wijnaldum has gone on to state that Benitez was desperate to see him stay at St. James’ Park and did not encourage him to join Liverpool, as some reports previously suggested.
Wijnaldum revealed to the Chronicle, “Rafa just said that Liverpool is a big club. The biggest thing he said was that he wanted to keep me for Newcastle.
“He didn’t want to sell me but he said that if a great offer came in they would think about it. He wanted to keep me there. He didn’t say: ‘You need to go to Liverpool’ because he wanted me to stay at Newcastle.”
