A manifesto for the Mags
KENEDY admits laziness has stopped him learning English three years after he first moved to the country, but the Brazilian winger says he is knuckling down now in an attempt to return to Chelsea and realise his full potential.
Kenedy moved to Chelsea as a teenager from Fluminese in the summer of 2015 but like so many youngsters before him, he has got lost in the Stamford Bridge system.
Now 22, he is back at Newcastle United for a second consecutive loan spell determined to learn more about the game, but also to brush up on his language skills.
“I don’t consider it’s hard to learn, I’m lazy, really,” Kenedy told Brazilian website UOL. “Now I’m with a private teacher, trying to evolve. Let’s see if it works out.”
Kenedy would be well advised to take his studies seriously. Central defender Chancel Mbemba was released in the summer having never won over manager Rafael Benitez.
One of the reasons the Spaniard gave was that the Congolese international had not got to grips with the language.
Despite having been loaned to Watford, and now twice to Newcastle, the Brazilian junior international still believes he can make a career at Stamford Bridge, even with the depth of quality he will have to compete with there.
“It is not that I didn’t succeed at Chelsea,” he argued. “I arrived at 19, very young. It was good to be loaned to get more playing time. Better than staying at Chelsea and not play.
“I hope this year I can make a good season for Newcastle and go back to Chelsea to continue. I have a dream to return and to be a champion for the club.”
Back for a season-long loan, it is fair to say he has not yet lived up to the heights of last season this time around.
But it says everything for the pulling power of former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool manager Benitez that Kenedy cites him as such an important factor in his ongoing development.
He says: “I played at Chelsea with (Jose) Mourinho, he always helped me and showed me what I had to do in training, what he taught me I take as learning with me, and now I’m learning from another great coach, Rafa.”