Benitez is burnt by a summer of inaction
Missed deals rile Rafa
WHEN Rafa Benitez missed his wedding anniversary celebrations to sit down with Tammy Abraham at St George’s Park in May, all seemed well with the world of Newcastle United.
The manager had received the assurances he needed from owner Mike Ashley to go out and do his summer business. Benitez knew that Newcastle would be working on a budget and didn’t expect £30million signings.
But, what he did want was to be backed when he identified a cheap player who was key to the team. Abraham was one such player, Willy Caballero another — but both slipped through Benitez’s fingers after delays in negotiations.
At least Newcastle now hope to agree a £5m deal with Stoke for Spanish forward Joselu and a loan deal for Chelsea wide man Kenedy this week. But Abraham, 19, was identified early after scoring 26 goals at Bristol City in the Championship last season.
The striker agreed to the move and told friends how excited he was to join Benitez and Newcastle. Chelsea also sanctioned the move, but a delay caused by demands for extra commission for the agent, allowed Swansea to enter the race. The Welsh club agreed everything immediately.
One Newcastle insider said: ‘We lost to a club that wasn’t even in the race when he first agreed to come to us.’
Caballero was a free agent, so Benitez didn’t anticipate problems getting the first-class keeper he wanted. The Argentine agreed wages and was looking forward to playing regularly. But more delays allowed Chelsea to come in with an offer of bigger wages. Although he wouldn’t be their No 1, Chelsea were emphatic they wanted him, whereas Newcastle took their time.
Inquiries were also made for City’s Fabian Delph and Eliaquim Mangala, but none of the deals went through.
After a summer of discontent, Benitez is staying at Newcastle, mainly out of a sense of duty to the players he has signed and the fans. He also has family ties to England and two years left on his contract. There will be a large financial disincentive to break it.
‘I had two or three players, who came here because of me,’ said Benitez. ‘They wanted to come here because of me and I couldn’t let them down.
‘As you know my family is in England and I decided to come to a massive club, with potential. I stayed in the Championship [after relegation from the Premier League in 2016], which was a massive risk for me, but I stayed because everything was so positive and in the end I was right.’
Ashley’s intervention on Friday night, saying that he was a relatively poor owner in the Premier League and couldn’t compete with Manchester City, seemed disingenuous. Benitez is more concerned that Newcastle can’t compete with Bournemouth, Swansea and Brighton.
Benitez said: ‘We were not demanding crazy things. This summer I was expecting other things, but okay we don’t have those things, so now we have to move forward and I will do my best. Am I happy with what was going on in the summer? No, I think that we can improve and we can compete and do the right things.’
Benitez would still like a goalkeeper, but doesn’t expect to get one. Lucas Perez, the striker available from Arsenal at £20m, is out of the question, even before wages are discussed.
‘What we have at Newcastle, which is different to other Premier League clubs, is the city. We have a city behind us — 52,000 every game, a good stadium and everybody is there,’ said Benitez ahead of the season opener at St James’ Park against Tottenham. ‘We have everything but because the money is so big now in the Premier League, it’s not just about that.
‘But still, I have confidence that we can compete. One thing we have and which I said last year and in the end I was right: we will compete until the end.’