Rafa Benitez has broken his silence on NUFC transfers this summer, stating that the “crazy” market is to blame for the club’s struggle to recruit the new signing he wants.
Newcastle have made Christian Atsu’s loan move a permanent one and signed centre-back Florian Lejeune for £8.7m from Eibar, but it is fair to say that Benitez had hoped for considerably more than two new arrivals by this stage of the window.
Speaking at the club’s 1892 Foundation Cup event at the United Academy, Rafa said:
“The top sides have a lot of money and the others are spending too,”
“It’s not easy for a lot of teams because the market is a little bit crazy. We have to try to do our best.
“We know where we are – that is not ideal because everybody wants to see a lot of players signing already – but we have to keep working and see what we can do.”
“We can do nothing other than just keep working to find the players that we want, and hopefully we can do it.”
After several outlets have stirred the pot and suggested Rafa could be about to walk, it is a relief to hear Benitez finally speak out on the current transfer situation.
While the situation is far from ideal, it is reassuring to hear that Benitez understands the difficulties we face market, appearing determined and committed to work hard and sign the players Newcastle so desperately require ahead of next month’s big kick off against Tottenham on the 13th August.
Here’s hoping, for all of our sakes, that Newcastle deliver the goods over the coming weeks – it’s getting tense but Rafa’s words put me at ease, for now.
