Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ROLLING AGAIN WITH SAINT-MAXIMIN
next day you feel like you want to put him in prison! If he can find that then he won’t just be a great player for Newcastle, but he’ll be breaking into the French team too.
“He still has to learn about the game a bit more. If he becomes more of a team player then there’s no limit to what he’s capable of.”
Newcastle’s performance against City has given the Geordie faithful belief that qualification for Europe for the first time in a decade is not out of the question. Solano believes the greatest sign of progress would be for Howe’s men to go out and play with the same desire and tempo against struggling Wolves at Molineux this afternoon.
“Newcastle need to show that kind of consistency every week,” says the Peruvian who made over 200 appearances for the club in two separate spells in the north east. “I think probably the most impressive thing about Newcastle is that they’re doing all this without having added a huge number of players.
“He has turned it around with a lot of the players who were there before. Eddie has brought in Sven Botman at the back, Guimaraes in midfield and Nick Pope in goal. The rest is the still the same – Joelinton, Almiron, SaintMaximan, Callum Wilson.”
Solano reckons the signing of
Pope, from Burnley, could prove to be critical as the club continue their rise under the former Bournemouth boss.
“He’s a great keeper and it was a great piece of business to bring him in,” says Solano. “He reminds me of Shay Given. He’s a very cool goalkeeper, it doesn’t look as though anything bothers him.
“The key for all these guys will be to do it away from Newcastle as well.”