Micah Richards has labelled Newcastle United targets Darwin Nunez as ‘electric’ and Jan Oblak as ‘top-notch’ after their performances in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The former England defender hailed the performance of the Benfica and Atletico Madrid duo on CBS Sports (15/03/22 at 10:10 pm).
Both teams – in separate ties – knocked out Ajax and Manchester United by winning 1-0 away from home and booking their spot in the quarter-final stages of Europe’s biggest competition.
Nunez was the star of the show for Benfica, with his header seeing off the Dutch champions and Oblak rolling back the years in between the sticks to prevent the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho from finding the back of the net.
Nonetheless, with Newcastle’s big pockets keen on the duo ahead of the summer, this is what Richards made of the duo last night.
“When someone scores a goal like this man, it just makes me happy because I backed him (Nunez),” said Richards.
On whether Nunez can take the mantle from the likes of Suarez and Cavani: “Definitely he can,” added Richards. “He’s electric. He has something different. And he’s a bit orthodox. Quite tall, gets himself into great positions and that’s why he scores so many great goals.”
On Oblak v Man United: “He’s still a top-notch goalkeeper. That’s why we have been waxing-lyrical about him. De Gea had question marks over him as well.
“But all great goalkeepers come back and these sort of games, on the biggest stage, where it matters the most. Two big saves. First one Varane, the header, then Ronaldo. It was just brilliant. He showed up tonight, which is the most important thing.”
Oblak will be very familiar with a certain Kieran Trippier in Newcastle’s ranks after the duo played alongside each other at Atleti.
Added with that, Newcastle’s ambition is to try and get into Europe next term and a player of Oblak’s ilk would be the big-name and player that would get them there.
Whilst Oblak is at the peak of his powers at 29, young Nunez is still progressing his talent at the age of 22.
But, the key factor with both players is that they would be a big upgrade on what Eddie Howe already works with on Tyneside.
The only problem is that they are already playing Champions League football, so it’s going to take something special to lure them out of their current bubbles.
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