OPINION
Newcastle United must hijack Atletico Madrid’s reported pursuit of Celta Vigo defender Jonny Castro as he would be the ideal player to meet Rafa Benitez’s desire to sign a new right-back.
The Spanish giants are thought to be in the hunt for the 24-year-old’s services, according to Marca, as the player more commonly known as Jonny is not intending to renew his deal at Celta Vigo which expires in 2019.
Celta Vigo president Carlos Mourino confirmed in June that Atletico Madrid had bid seven million euros (£6.1million) and that while that offer was rejected it was close to matching the club’s valuation of their player.
“We did not accept that offer,” Mourino said, as quoted by Marca.
“The offer from Atlético Madrid – seven million euros – was not too far away from our valuation, but for two months we have not heard from them again and that could be interpreted as not having too much interest in our defender.”
Benitez is thought to want a new right-back signed this summer, as reported by the Chronicle, and is only expected to have a modest budget to work with according to another report by the Chronicle.
It is believed that the current Magpies boss desires a new right-back as he wants to provide current right-sided defender DeAndre Yedlin with more competition for a first-team place, as stated by the Chronicle.
Given that Jonny is worth somewhere just above £6.1million based on Mourino’s comments then the Magpies must look to sign him as he would be the ideal new right-back for Benitez.
The 24-year-old is capable of playing as a left-back as well as right-back due to being comfortable kicking the ball with either foot and he had a good 2017/18 campaign despite his side having a disappointing season.
Jonny impressed in a lot of the 40 games he featured in during his latest campaign and his tendency to put his defensive duties first ahead of trying to aid his side’s attack should see Benitez love the way he plays.
The defender may have played the majority of his games as a left-back over the last two seasons but he has featured as a right-back 48 times at senior level during his career.
The 24-year-old is adept at reading the game to his advantage in order to intercept the ball and is relentless when it comes to ensuring that he wins the ball back for his side.
Jonny is always willing to go the extra mile to chase his opponents down in order to retrieve the ball for his side and his stamina levels and desire to work for the team will see Benitez being very satisfied by his arrival.
The Spanish defender is also capable of playing the ball out from the back if required as he is a consistently a neat passer of the ball which would see him fit the Magpies’ desired style of play.
Therefore the Magpies must hijack Atletico Madrid’s reported pursuit of Jonny in order to give Benitez his ideal new right-back.
