Newcastle United player’s former manager says Benitez does not have confidence in him

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Newcastle United full-back DeAndre Yedlin is yet to make his mark at St James’ Park.

DeAndre Yedlin moved to Newcastle in the summer, but has only made nine Championship starts for the Magpies since his arrival, and his former coach Sigi Schmid explained how his limited game time is down to Rafa Benitez’ lack of confidence in the full-back, when speaking during an exclusive interview with PlayingFor90.com.

Schmidt managed Yedlin during his time at the Seattle Sounders, and knows the player extremely well.

Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez with DeAndre Yedlin

And he sat down for an interview with football news website PlayingFor90.com, and explained what he believes is behind the right-back’s current struggles at St James’ Park:

“Consistency is a key and the manager does not feel 100-per-cent confident with him yet. He has improved some of his deficiencies but needs to continue to grow those areas. His defending needed to improve and he needed to push through some adversity to prepare for the adversity he would face in England. His final passing and decisions with the ball need to improve too.”

Newcastle United’s Deandre Yedlin in action

The 43-capped United States international has been used in rotation with Vurnon Anita, as Benitez continues to tinker with his starting line-up.

The 23-year-old full-back will be hoping to really kick on into 2017 now, and prove to the Spaniard what he is truly capable of.

But an extended run in the first-team will be need in order for him to do this, and whether Benitez is prepared to present him with that chance just yet remains to be seen.