Benitez has stayed after a confusing summer... now he needs the support
BOSS IS DESERVING OF A UNITED NEWCASTLE THIS SEASON
SINCE Mike Ashley wrestled control of Newcastle United a decade ago there have been good summers – last year and 2011 – bad summers – most of the rest – and, thanks to Joe Kinnear, one downright disastrous one.
But this close season doesn’t fit easily into any of those categories. There have been dashes of good, plenty of frustration and the occasional foreboding sign for the future but no common theme has emerged since Newcastle began the process of rebuilding from the Premier League. It has been a summer of confusion. No wonder everyone feels so unsettled.
Here was the plan, as sketched out by Rafa Benitez: use the resources raised from promotion and last summer’s restructuring of wages and sale of Moussa Sissoko to staff the squad with six or seven new recruits. There was never megabucks on the table but a healthy budget was expected. Newcastle had scouted Harry Maguire and Andre Gray – they knew they’d have to box smart but funds were anticipated.
This was the manager, after all, who had worked on the assumption that Andros Townsend could be signed on a loan deal in January that would have seen him complete a mandatory permanent move for £13million in the summer. Other conversations were had: Manchester City were asked about Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala. Striker Kelechi Iheanacho was also mentioned.
Benitez wanted new deals for a few of those who had served him well in the Championship. He wanted quick progress on resolving the uncertainty around scouting that he’d seen as problematic the previous season. Most of all he wanted to see the bar raised again after a season that had seen an unprecedented culture shift – from St James’ Park right down to the auxiliary staff at Benton.
So what has happened? Five signings, but with the exception of Florian Lejeune none of the priority targets earmarked by Benitez. In Jacob Murphy and Mikel Merino two promising players have been signed but it feels like a big ask to both of them to have a major impact in their debut Premier League seasons. Javi Manquillo is a back-up full-back while Christian Atsu was here the season before and will provide an option for Benitez, rather than a surefire starter.
Few of the other things the manager wanted have come to pass yet. Fringe men who could have raised some muchneeded capital have not been moved on. Those contracts haven’t been offered.
So here comes the confusion: Why do Newcastle, in a period of unprecedented Premier League financial largesse, find themselves scraping around looking for bargains? Where has money earmarked for signings in previous windows gone?
And – most crucially – what does Benitez make of it all?
His response so far has been Fernandinho of Manchester City exemplary. There have been reports of his frustration all summer and those are not without foundation – he now knows the size and scale of the task of turning Newcastle into a Premier League force.
It is not just a crazy market he is dealing with – and that has been a big part of the problem this summer – but also a club that can be confusing, overwrought with politics and occasionally too cautious.
But Benitez is a natural-born problem solver. It has been a tough, attritional summer but – sensing early the way the wind was blowing – the
manager has recalibrated expectations, strategies and approaches. However let-down he might have felt, and we will surely give us more of a glimpse of his state of mind in the weeks before the transfer window when the regular press conferences begin with the Premier League season, he has poured every ounce into Newcastle again this close season. Difficult as it might have been, his commitment remains “100%” – his words, from his fan talk-in last week – and that tells you everything.
In some ways, Benitez has revealed more about the so-called ‘Rafalution’ this summer in a confusing, frustration close season than he did in the last one. If he stays and fights with a squad that looks skinny, he is taking on a much bigger challenge than the one Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho or Jurgen Klopp have this year.
He is a world-class manager but the squad he oversees this term isn’t as good as most of those he’ll be going up against. If he gets them over-achieving, it’ll be a testament to what a good boss he is. It is also why Newcastle’s supporters owe him unconditional support this season, however hard it gets. They will be