Newcastle United sold Aleksandar Mitrovic to Fulham in the summer transfer window.
Benitez sold Mitrovic to Fulham for £20m (Daily Mail) in the summer, in a move which has proved to be controversial among Newcastle fans.
Mitrovic was always a popular figure at St. James’ Park, but Benitez had some reluctance over utilising the target-man.
The Serbian has gone on to prove his worth since joining Fulham, and he has scored four goals in his last four Premier League matches.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have struggled for goals – but Benitez insists that Mitrovic was not the type of striker that they were looking for.
“The first thing I would say is that I wish him all the best,” Benitez said. “I didn’t have any problem with him.
“He was a professional. He’s a nice lad, and that’s it. He was very clear (and said), ‘The way that I play, maybe, is not the way we have to play’. In another environment, in another division, and now with confidence, fine, he’s doing well. He’s in another team, and it’s totally different.
“He had chances for us. He was playing more than (Jacob) Murphy, and Murphy was similar. You see the stats, but I will not waste too much time on that. I wish him well. If we are safe, they can be safe, no problem. For us, he was not the kind of player we were looking for. That’s it.”
Mitrovic’s departure from Newcastle cleared the way for Salomon Rondon and Yoshinori Muto to be brought in by Benitez.
Rondon is off the mark for Newcastle already, but Muto has not yet scored for the Magpies.
Newcastle are still looking for their first win of the season, with their next match coming against Arsenal.
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