Rafa: I need the final say on transfers
RAFA Benitez has told Mike Ashley that newcastle will be better off if he is allowed to manage the club his way. there are concerns among supporters that the pair are on a collision course, with the owner having taken a closer interest in transfers in the past week. He does not want his club to lose sight of their policy of buying young players to sell on, which has made him handsome profits.
But it contributed to the Magpies’ relegation last season and Benitez insists he only wants to sign the right players, regardless of age.
‘the main thing, for us, is if i can try to do things in the way that i want to do things,’ said Benitez, whose side face Birmingham at home in an FA Cup third-round replay tonight.
‘if i cannot, i cannot. But at the moment we continue and we still have time to do what we have to do in the transfer window. When i was in europe, i had technical directors and in england i have been a manager.
‘My understanding is that if you have a good manager, leave him to take responsibility. the problem is when it is a mixture of things and the owners, especially on the Continent, they try to be in the middle.’
Benitez chose not to give a direct answer when asked if he would quit if a transfer was blocked. He said: ‘What i have to do is to win games, to prepare my team in the best way possible.
‘We are looking to get promoted and i will try to do my best in any case.’ Benitez said it was a ‘ tricky’ question when asked if he had the final say on transfers but insists he remains relaxed about the club’s workings.
‘We have (always) had the same way to work as we have had during this month,’ he said. ‘i talk with (managing director) Lee Charnley, we analyse all the options, we have meetings with the scouts and we ask for names.
‘i am not worried if the player is 21, 28 or 30. the first thing for me is if he is good enough.’ And Benitez pointed to the example of summer signing Daryl Murphy, the 33-year-old striker who, with Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic injured, is now set for a run in the side after scoring the winner at Brentford on Saturday.
‘Signing a player like Murphy with experience of the Championship is paying dividends now,’ he said.
‘it has proved that you have to have a balance.’