Newcastle United may have only brought in three new faces in January, but the two who have played have looked mightily impressive so far.
Despite Newcastle United’s limited January transfer window activity, given the club’s well documented financial strains, manager Rafa Benitez has made wonderful use of the loan system.
The January window saw Kenedy, Islam Slimani and Martin Dubravka all join up with the Newcastle squad on loan.
Unfortunately for the Toon, Slimani was unavailable to make his debut in yesterday’s match against Manchester United due to a thigh strain. However, both Kenedy and Dubravka have made up for this, looking extremely impressive in a Newcastle shirt.
Brazilian youngster Kenedy, on loan from Chelsea, has looked like a serious live wire in his three appearances for Newcastle and looks the type of player to get fans out of their seat with nearly every touch of the ball.
The 22-year-old has been electric down the flank since arriving from West London and has been close to getting off the mark in terms of scoring for his new club on several occasions.
It remains to be seen whether or not Newcastle will have the chance to sign Kenedy on a full time deal come the end of the season. Yet if the Brazilian keeps up his performances, there is no doubt that Benitez will try to keep him with the youngster looking like a real catalyst to the Magpies’ recent attacking prowess.
Dubravka, on the other hand, enjoyed a stunning Premier League debut for Newcastle as he put in a man of the match performance in yesterday’s 1-0 win over Manchester United.
The Slovakian was simply sensational from start to finish, denying Anthony Martial the chance to open the scoring with a one-on-one chance in the first half, only to produce the goods again in the dying moments of the game with a terrific save off the line to ensure his side earned all three points.
Newcastle have seriously struggled in the goalkeeper department this year, with Rob Elliot and Karl Darlow both performing below par. Should Dubravka continue where he started on his debut, it will mark another piece of good business by Benitez, as he continues to sort out the various areas of the pitch that require addressing.
With Kenedy and Dubravka impressing so much in the early stages of their St James’ Park careers, Newcastle fans will be hopeful that Slimani can follow suit whenever his debut comes.
It was well known that Newcastle were in the market for striker with Dwight Gayle, Joselu and Ayoze Perez struggling to hit the heights required by a Premier League team.
The club are still desperately lacking goals, but with a shored up defence with Dubravka between the sticks and Kenedy, Shelvey and Diame providing the platform for a striker to finish off chances, Slimani has a good chance of helping Newcastle fire their way to safety and continue developing ahead of next season.
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