Language a barrier for Barreca

LANGUAGE BARRIER’S A HURDLE FOR BARRECA TO OVERCOME, SAYS BENITEZ

ANTONIO Barreca will need time to discover his best form for Newcastle United - but Rafa Benitez believes the Italian’s professional attitude will help him succeed on Tyneside.

The 23-year-old joined the Magpies on an initial half-season loan deal from Monaco on transfer-deadline day but his arrival has gone somewhat under the radar given Miguel Almiron was also recruited in a potential club-record deal.

Barreca - who played four minutes as a substitute during the Magpies’ 1-0 defeat against Spurs - is the out-and-out leftwing-back Benitez has sought for the best part of two seasons.

There have been concerns raised about Barreca’s ability to adapt to English football.

What is more, former Italy youth international Barreca can barely speak a word of English.

However, Benitez and his multilingual coaching staff can communicate with Barreca in Italian and the United manager has been impressed by the wingback’s work ethic.

Benitez is considering handing Barreca his full debut at Molineux on Monday night.

He said: “His English is worse than the English of Almiron because he talks Italian but we (the staff) can talk with him, we can communicate with him.

“He knows what we want and we are working on that.

“This week away will be another opportunity for him to get to know his team-mates and to see how we want him to do things. He needs time.”