After weeks of negotiations, Newcastle United have finally completed the £8.7m signing of Florian Lejeune from Eibar, with the 26-year-old centre-back signing a 5-year-deal at St. James’ Park.
The 6ft 3 defender is believed to have been one of the the top performing centre-back’s in La Liga last season and said the following after completing his move this morning:
“I’m very happy to have signed. Newcastle United is a big club, and I’m very happy to be here,”
“When you have a manager like Rafa Benitez who wants you, you are very happy to come. Since I’ve been in touch with the manager, it was an easy decision for me to come here.”
Rafa Benitez then commented on the Frenchman, welcoming him to the club and giving fans a taster of what they can expect from the new arrival:
“I would like to welcome Florian to Newcastle United. He is a player that has done very well this year in Spain. I have known about him for a while, since he began playing for Villarreal.
“He has progressed a lot as a player in the last few years and I know he will give us something different at the back – he is good with both feet, he’s big and he’s good in the air also.
“If he settles well into English football then I am sure he will be a success and will give us a lot of competition in this area.”
Lejeune’s arrival is our second of the summer, but, for many, it’s Newcastle’s first real capture after we simply triggered our option to make Christian Atsu’s loan move permanent at the back end of May.
Finally a breakthrough for us the fans and more importantly Rafa – here’s hoping this kick-starts our summer rebuild!
