Newcastle United fans in the Transfer Tavern will be pleading with Mike Ashley to get behind Rafa Benitez this summer and offer him the money needed to improve their squad.
The current Magpies squad is seriously lacking in attacking options and Benitez worked miracles to haul them to tenth place in the Premier League last season, despite them scoring less than almost all of their immediate rivals.
So far this summer Newcastle have only added goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, who spent the second half of last season on loan at St James’s Park and impressed with his performances.
But if they miss out on another loan star of last season then Benitez and his side may struggle to match their top half finish. Brazillian winger Kenedy (valued at £9m by Transfermarkt) also joined the club on loan in January from Chelsea and immediately added pace and power to the Newcastle attack.
The 22-year-old ended his stint in the North East with 2 goals and 2 assists from 13 games and could surely push on if Benitez is given the green light to sign him permanently.
He also endeared himself to the Newcastle faithful on the final game of the season where he was ineligible to play against his parent club Chelsea but watched from the stands and posted Instagram stories that indicated his support for Newcastle.
Kenedy would make the perfect permanent signing for Newcastle, who currently only have Jacob Murphy and Christian Atsu to call on for pace out wide. It’s also not hard to imagine that Chelsea will be willing to cash in on the Brazillian and pursue other transfer targets so the Magpies should take full advantage.
If they don’t, it really will be a miserable summer on Tyneside.
Thoughts?
