Newcastle United’s Florian Lejeune is pushing for a return to action.
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Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has told The Chronicle that he thinks Florian Lejeune will bring composure on the ball to their defence.
The Magpies went 10 games without a win to start the season, but have now won twice in a row having followed up a win over Watford with a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Benitez will be hoping to keep that momentum going after the international break, and he may just have some more good news on the horizon.
Defender Lejeune starred for Newcastle last season following a move from Girona, and had been expected to resume an impressive partnership with Jamaal Lascelles this season.
However, the Frenchman suffered a major knee injury in pre-season, and subsequently hasn’t played a single minute this term, with initial fears that he was going to miss the entire season.
Lejeune has made remarkable progress though, and is already kicking a ball again in training, with a belief that he could be back in action as early as next month in a stunning recovery.
Now, Benitez has suggested that Newcastle have missed the ability to play accurate long passes and to switch play, believing that Lejeune has the composure and technical ability to solve that particular Newcastle problem once he returns to action.
“He was an important player for us, and after he’d settled down you could see his quality on the ball,” said Benitez. “He showed composure on the ball. He gave confidence to our other defenders. We have Federico Fernandez now at the moment but to have a player like Lejeune who can pass the ball really well and play long passes and switch play gives us something more. It gives you more in possession and sometimes we are missing that,” he added.
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