Streetwise Almiron can take care of himself, says Benitez

RAFA Benitez believes Miguel Almiron is streetwise enough to deal with defenders who will be looking to target the South American livewire after his explosive start to life in the Premier League.

Almiron has suffered bad fouls in all three of his first top-flight games but has dusted himself down and got on with the job.

Now after three attacking displays which have had defenders in a spin, Almiron heads to West Ham looking for his first goal in United colours.

Benitez has already watched on as defenders turn to foul means to stop him in his tracks and seasoned Newcastle fans don’t need reminding of how David Ginola, Tino Asprilla and Laurent Robert were victims of defenders who tried to get into the heads of the talented trio.

He told the Chronicle: “It was a bad tackle (against Huddersfield).

“That is true but it is not like they were fouling him all the time, it was just bad luck in that situation.

“I don’t expect to see him have any problems adapting in the Premier League because you can see already in every training session he is doing the same.

“It is not like he is worried about anything. He is very dynamic and quick. I can see he is going to cope well with the physicality.”

Almiron is no stranger to crunching tackles with defenders in Major League Soccer also trying every trick in the book to halt his progress, while his 14 caps for Paraguay include stormy games against South American rivals. Benitez added: “I am telling you this, I know the countries well and it is not just South American players. In Paraguay, the people are very, very competitive. Hopefully he will be one of them.”

Almiron has also been helped greatly by Spanish speakers such as Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon.

Benitez said: “Salomon is talking about that. I tell them to talk in English!

“However, during the games they can talk in Spanish.”