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Benitez: Hayden wants to stay at Newcastle for now

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Image for Benitez: Hayden wants to stay at Newcastle for now

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has claimed that wantaway midfielder Isaac Hayden wants to be at the club at the moment, but admits he’s unsure on the player’s long term future after holding talks with him.

The Mirror reported this summer that the former Arsenal man, who is on a reported £22,000-per-week on Tyneside [Source: Spotrac], had handed in a transfer request in a bid to move closer to his family down south.

And Benitez has moved to clarify the 23-year-old’s current mindset: “I was speaking to him and he is fine,” he told the Chronicle.

“At the moment he wants to be here, I think so, but we will see in the future. It doesn’t matter, anyway, because he is here [until January at the very least] – and he has to keep going.”

OPINION

This has turned into a bit of a saga, hasn’t it? Benitez understandably did not want to offload Hayden in the summer when he did not feel confident that he would be able to find a replacement but, ultimately, you do not want an unsettled player around your squad long term. Hayden’s heart clearly isn’t quite in it at St James’ Park and so it’s probably best that he leaves the club in January – providing Newcastle are able to find an adequate replacement for him. He has barely featured for the club this term and was sent off against Cardiff City earlier in the season so it’s not as if he’s been an integral player for Benitez’s side. Jonjo Shelvey, Mohamed Diame and Ki Sung-yueng are all ahead of him in the pecking order, so it feels as if a January exit closer to his family would be best for both Hayden and the Magpies.

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