Newcastle United have seen Federico Fernandez star this season.
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez has told The Mirror that he is not surprised with Federico Fernandez’s performances for the club having already worked with him at Napoli.
The Magpies won 1-0 away at Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon, with Salomon Rondon scoring the winner from a Javi Manquillo cross.
It was another clean sheet for Newcastle, and surprisingly done without Fernandez in the heart of defence as Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar and Ciaran Clark all featured.
Fernandez, 29, joined Newcastle from Swansea City back in August, and has been one of Benitez’s most impressive summer signings so far.
The Argentinian has been a rock in the heart of the Newcastle defence and has even captained the side at times this term, becoming one of Benitez’s most trusted players.
Having worked with Benitez at Napoli, that’s no great surprise, and Benitez has now commented on the centre back’s performances so far this season.
Benitez admitted that he is not surprised with Fernandez’s performances as he knew all about his quality and mentality from their time together in Italy, believing that his signing was less of a risk as a result.
“Sometimes you think you are choosing the right one and you pay big money for him and it’s wrong,” said Benitez. “But in Fernandez’s case, the advantage we had was that we knew him because he was our player in Napoli. We knew about his mentality. It’s always easier when you have a lot of information about players that you can be right.”
“I am not surprised with him because he was our player and he knew how we wanted to play and how we trained. Everything we had done in Napoli is more or less what we tried to do here,” he added.
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