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Hayden must be angry with Ki arrival

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Image for Hayden must be angry with Ki arrival

OPINION

Newcastle United completed the signing of Ki Sung-yueng on Friday evening, but not everybody will be pleased about his arrival.

The South Korea international, who captained his nation at the World Cup this summer, was presented as a new signing at St James’ Park.

He follows goalkeeper Martin Dubrvaka in being the second addition made by manager Rafael Benitez this summer and was available following his departure from relegated outfit Swansea City.

Ki has made 166 Premier League appearances already in his career and should be a very solid signing for the squad, especially considering he has joined on a free transfer.

The central midfielder is renowned for his ball-playing ability and is also a dead-ball specialist, something he demonstrated regularly for Swansea.

There is the prospect of a reunion alongside Jonjo Shelvey in the heart of the Newcastle midfield and they proved they have a great understanding when playing alongside each other for the Swans.

Newcastle supporters can be thrilled they have taken another positive step this summer, but the arrival of 29-year-old Ki is not necessarily good news for his teammate Isaac Hayden.

The 23-year-old is already competing for a spot in the starting line up and was unable to dislodge the Shelvey-Mohamed Diame combination for much of last season.

He did feature in 29 games across all competitions, but the defensive midfielder is set to be pushed even further down the pecking order.

It would be no surprise to see Hayden seething with the new signing and it leaves him fighting for his position even harder in the pre-season.

Hayden is a no-nonsense defensive midfielder that can do a steady job in the centre of the park, but he is not quite the complete package like Ki and the latest addition can be expected to be favoured by Benitez.

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