Should Rafa Benitez be contemplating signing a player who has not featured since April?
Brentford boss Dean Smith has told GetWestLondon that talk of a potential move to Newcastle United for in-demand winger Alan Judge is ‘premature’.
The Republic of Ireland international was on the verge of moving to St James’ Park in the summer after a superb season in the second tier, culminating in 14 goals and 11 assists.
However, a slower than expected recovery from the broken leg he suffered in April eventually led to the switch being called off although the report suggests Newcastle may attempt to kick-start the deal for a cut price £600,000.
But Bees’ manager Smith has attempted to play down such speculation with his star man only recently returning to training and without a first-team appearance all season.
“For all the talk of Alan Judge going anywhere, he’s not had a training session yet. I think it’s all a bit premature,” the former Walsall boss told GetWestLondon.
“We want Alan to get back to full fitness and return to the player he was. He’s in a good place and he’s striking balls and he’s yet to be coming into the training sessions with the lads.”
Nonetheless, Smith stopped short of confirming that Brentford would be looking to extend the deal of a player who will be free to leave at the end of the campaign.
When asked whether Judge will be offered a new contract, Smith said; “Not that I know of but that’s one for the directors of football, not me.”
Regardless, the fact that Judge has not played a minute of competitive football in over half a year must surely make Rafael Benitez think twice about a potential transfer especially as there is not date set for the winger’s return.
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