Newcastle United’s Florian Lejeune is struggling to get to grips with the Premier League.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has played down Florian Lejeune’s recent struggles and insisted that he will improve in time.
The French centre-back joined Newcastle from Eibar for £8.8 million in the summer and went off injured 33 minutes into his debut on the first day of the season.
He has been a mainstay in Benitez’s first XI since the middle of October, starting United’s last nine Premier League games.
But fans are growing increasingly frustrated with his sluggish performances and you need only search his name on Twitter to see the type of vitriol directed at him.
Lejeune reached a new low in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Leicester City at St James’s Park as the fans’ perception of him took another hit.
But the Spanish manager says he still needs time to adapt to Premier League football.
“I think every single player coming from abroad to play here will need time to adapt. Obviously a centre-back needs more time,” he told The Chronicle.”But when we were signing him, we were signing a player that technically is good, can play on the ball, he can pass the ball, and he was different to the players that we had.
“We have Lascelles and Clark, and he [Lejeune] is different, and Mbemba is different because he is not as big. Lejeune is big, he is good in the air, he can pass the ball. He will need some time to adapt and understand.
“For anyone coming from abroad to the Premier League, the adaption is always difficult.”
Jamal Lascelles’s absence probably hasn’t done Benitez or Lejeune many favours. Losing the Newcastle skipper – who is now fit again – for a month meant that the Magpies boss had to play Lejeune, but Lascelles’ return will likely mean that the Frenchman is dropped.
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