New boy already speaking same language as teammates
MIGUEL’S LACK OF ENGLISH IS NOT A BIG PROBLEM, SAYS BOSS
MIGUEL Almiron’s lack of English will not affect his development at Newcastle United in the same way it inhibited Yoshinori Muto when the Japan striker first arrived on Tyneside, believes Rafa Benitez.
Paraguay international Almiron will in time become the Magpies’ £21million club-record signing after joining from Atlanta United during the summer.
However, despite having played for the past two seasons in America, the 24-year-old is not yet fluent in English though he does has a decent understanding of the language when others speak to him.
Earlier in the season, Benitez admitted he was reluctant to play Japan international Muto too often due to the striker’s poor grasp English at the time.
Yet Benitez insists Almiron’s situation is different.
For a start the attacking midfielder has been playing in the USA with teammates who spoke English, while the United coaching staff and a significant number of players within the Magpies squad can also communicate with the Paraguayan in Spanish while he improves his grasp of the language.
When asked if Almiron would need to learn English before playing regularly, just as Muto did, Benitez said: “No, not for him. For some players, or really for everyone, to come from another league and another country to the Premier League, it is quite difficult.
“They need time to adapt, and for some players it is more difficult because they cannot communicate with others.
“He can talk to a lot of players in Spanish and he can understand English perfectly, so it is not an issue.”
At his media unveiling at St James’
Park on Thursday, Almiron stressed he is fit and is keen to make his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Monday night.
However, while Benitez has been pleased with how quickly the Paraguayan has settled in on Tyneside, the United manager will wait until Monday before deciding whether Almiron will make his debut from the start in the West Midlands.
The Spaniard added: “He is fine, his training has been good.
“Normally he is fit and he is a player with good stamina and good pace. He is mobile and quite dynamic.
“The question mark now is what will happen with the physicality of the Premier League.
“All of this that we already know, hat is the main difference between the Premier League and the MLS.
“We know all of this and we will see how he copes with that but he is training well and he is OK.
“I need to decide whether he will play at Wolves because we have too many players. He has a chance to be in the squad.” Given Almiron’s slight frame, comparisons have been made between Newcastle’s new record signing and previous bigmoney buys Remy Cabella and Florian Thauvin - both of who flopped on Tyneside primarily due to their failure to deal with the physical nature of English football.
While Benitez only worked with Cabella and Thauvin for a short period, the United manager is convinced Almiron can belie his apparent lack of physicality and make the adjustment between the MLS and the Premier League -, although he accepts it may take the attacking-midfielder time to do so.
The Spaniard went on: “I don’t know them (Cabella and Thauvin) properly, not in terms of sharing with them a lot of time, but what I can say about Miguel is he is a nice lad, he’s a worker and he has been training well.
“He has already been talking to the nutritionist so he is quite professional.
“Everything we try to do with every player, he will do it.
“For example we were talking about the way we have to train in the gym and he has already done all of the exercises we have done.
“So I think he will be OK. He cannot understand English too well yet, but he can talk Spanish with us so in terms of what we want from him on the pitch, he is OK.
“It is just a question of putting him on the pitch and seeing how he copes with the tackles.”
During an impressive press conference at St James’ Park on Thursday, Almiron insisted his clubrecord price tag was an “honour” rather than a burden.
Benitez does not appear concernedt the significant fee Newcastle paid for the Paraguayan will have an adverse effect upon Almiron’s performances.
He said: “Any player cannot think too much about the price.
“They have to think about what they can do on the pitch and what they can give the team. He has the right mentality in terms of that.”