Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has said he is very aware that it will be hard to keep every player in the Newcastle squad happy this season.
The Spaniard says he has a dilemma though. He doesn’t want to have unhappy players in his squad, but equally he does not want players in his squad who are happy not to be playing. He told the Shields Gazette:
“We have 27 players. It is impossible to have 27 players who are happy if they do not play,” he said. So now at this stage of the season we are doing well and everything is fine but if you carry on and some players don’t play too much they will not be happy. “But I do not want players who are happy not to be playing.”
Even some of Benitez’s new signings have struggled to feature so far this season. Neither left back Achraf Lazaar nor Daryl Murphy have played a minute of league football since joining from Palermo and Ipswich Town respectively. Each has started just one match, in the EFL tie against Wolves, whole others such as £5.5m signing Grant Hanley and Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu have had to be satisfied with long spells on the bench.
Injuries during a long league campaign may require the 27 man squad to be used to its fullest extent though but at the moment some players will have to remain patient to get their chance.
