Murphy ready to shine, says Mag keeper
Jacob Murphy’s ready to show what he can do at Newcastle United – after settling into life at St James’s Park.
That’s the verdict of Rob Elliot ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Watford.
Murphy was signed from Norwich City in the summer for £12million and made his second Premier League start for the Magpies against Manchester United last weekend.
Murphy showed glimpses of his potential at Old Trafford and the winger could keep his place against Watford, with Christian Atsu still sidelined by a thigh injury.
Elliot believes Murphy, the costliest of Rafa Benitez’s summer buys, has had a lot to get used to since moving to Tyneside – not least his price tag.
The goalkeeper said: “He’s a young kid, and he had a big price tag coming here, and it’s taken him a little while to settle. But he has great ability. He’s a really good lad who works hard. “And, again, like a lot of our players, he’s young and he’s learning the game at the highest level. He did really well. Hopefully, this is just the start for him and we see a lot more of him in the future.” Newcastle are 11th in the table after three successive league defeats, while Watford – who could lose boss Marco Silva to Everton – are eighth.
Elliot felt there were a lot of positives to take from the loss at Old Trafford. “We’ve gone to Old Trafford and, for 30 minutes, dominated the game with our pace on the counter-attack,” said the exCharlton man.
“Watford will be another test for us, but one we can go into with confidence, knowing we can cause even the best teams in this division problems.”