Exotic mystery of foreign signings will linger until season starts
BEAUTY, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. That being so, let us wait and judge for ourselves the worth of Newcastle’s foreign imports once they are in meaningful battle.
Because, bottom line, we don’t actually know how United’s latest signing this week Mikel Merino, or Florian Lejeune for that matter, will fit into Premier League life.
We have a little more evidence with Javier Manquillo because of his loan periods in this country, especially at Sunderland last season, but still the jury has to be out.
Geordies inevitably have not seen enough of most continental imports to judge immediately upon their arrival on Tyneside. It is a game of wait and see.
We did not know, for example, the extent of the magical impact David Ginola (pictured) would have on Keegan’s Entertainers. Even assistant manager Terry McDermott was amazed. Nor did we realise what a gem Philippe Albert would turn out to be.
On the other hand we had no prior knowledge Aleksandar Mitrovic would struggle to justify his £13m fee or that Florian Thauvin, Remy Cabella, Henri Saivet, Mehdi Abeid, Roman Amalfitano et al would be such flops. Of course, fans knew what to expect from Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie. Shelvey was an England international for goodness sake and Ritchie had done it at PL level with Bournemouth, but even English players plucked from a league below, like Jacob Murphy, can be a tad risky at top grade. No Toon foot soldier expected the immediate impact a 21-year-old striker who had never played at the very top would have all those years ago. Mind you, after his explosive hat-trick against Liverpool on his home debut everyone knew who SuperMac was!
What United’s current new boys have going for them is they have been selected by Rafa Benitez and every man jack in the SJP crowd backs their manager to the hilt.
Of his three foreign imports so far this summer two are Spaniards and the other was playing in Spain, the country of Rafa’s birth, which hints strongly at inside knowledge. That is enough for starters.