OPINION
Newcastle United must ambitiously swoop for Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne as he would more than meet Rafa Benitez’s demand for a new right-back.
The 27-year-old Reds defender, who Total Sportek state is earning £70,000-a-week at Anfield, would be a genius bit of business if the Magpies could reach an agreement for his services.
Clyne spent the majority of his 2017/18 season watching Jurgen Klopp’s side wow every spectator from the crowd as a back injury kept him from being available.
The Reds were able to finish fourth in the league without him, though he did make three cameo appearances, and reach a Champions League final.
In fact the defender had a front row seat as Trent Alexander-Arnold emerged in his absence to be one of the Reds’ best first-team players and establish himself as the better option to pick on a regular basis going forward.
While Clyne is still of use to the Reds, he shouldn’t be sold, after such a long spell on the sidelines he must have regular games to get himself back to his best.
Klopp’s team can’t afford to dethrone Alexander-Arnold to make room for this need and must look to secure Clyne regular top-flight football at another club.
The Magpies seem like the perfect option as Benitez, as reported by the Chronicle, has made it his mission to sign a right-back in this window and there are few better options to take than Clyne.
The 27-year-old would easily leapfrog DeAndre Yedlin in the pecking order at St James Park in order to be seen regularly darting up and down the wing for the club.
Also with the experienced Benitez watching over his progress and return from injury, the Magpies would be doing the Reds a favour by getting Clyne back up to speed.
The England international has played 167 times in the Premier League, across spells at the Reds and Southampton, so would bring a proven top-flight quality to the Magpies’ current squad.
Therefore the Magpies must ambitiously swoop for the defender, who was arguably among the best right-backs in the league before his injury, as they would be able to benefit from doing the Reds’ a massive favour by aiding Clyne’s recovery.
