Life’s going quite well for Newcastle at the moment but Lee Clark beleives it could be about to get a whole lot better still.
Former Newcastle United manager Lee Clark has told The Chronicle that he is confident that the club will soon be able to compete in the transfer market for the world’s elite due to the pulling power of Rafa Benitez.
The former Real Madrid manager agreed to stay on Tyneside despite the Magpies’ relegation from the Premier League after being given control over player recruitment in order to bring an end to the previous, fragmented system in which the club’s ‘head coach’ was forced to find a place in their squad for expensive imports brought in by chief scout Graham Carr, The Telegraph report.
Consequently, Newcastle’s revamped approach has culminated in a superb start to the season with the pre-season promotion favourites fulfilling expectations at the top of the Championship due to the excellent form of a number of Benitez’s additions, including Matt Ritchie, Ciaran Clark and the league’s top scorer Dwight Gayle (below).
All three could legitimately lay claim to being ‘Premier League quality’ players and Clark believes the Spaniard’s reputation means the club can continue to push beyond their station in the transfer market as St James’ Park will suddenly become an attractive destination for even their most ambitious transfer targets.
“I know one thing – when the club do get back up, and hopefully it’s at the first attempt, because of Rafa Benitez’s standing in the game – Newcastle United will be challenging for the top players in the world again,” Clark told The Chronicle.
“They will come to the club like they did when I was at the club in the mid-1990s.
“We had Alan Shearer, Tino Asprilla and David Ginola (below) to name but a few, everybody said you can’t get the top players to come to the North East, but you can because we have a tremendous stadium, tremendous fanbase and one of the best managers in world football.
“And when players see that and see the club getting back in the Premier League and potentially challenging again rather than being perennial relegation fighters they will come.”
Benitez has already presided over an overhaul in the playing staff since arriving in the North East earlier in the year, shipping out much of the deadwood accumulated during the reigns of Alan Pardew and Steve McClaren and replacing it with players of proven quality.
Furthermore, the Spaniard has a reputation as a shrewd operator in the transfer market, bringing Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres (below) and Javier Mascherano to Liverpool as well as convincing Gonzalo Higuain to take an apparent step down by swapping Real Madrid for Napoli in 2013.
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