OPINION
Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has never been one for subtlety as he keeps his cards close to his chest, but when he does speak he is typically forthright.
It’s not too difficult, then, to decipher his true feelings about Magpies right back Javier Manquillo after Benitez essentially admitted that he wouldn’t have signed his fellow Spaniard if he’d had more money to spend in the transfer market.
“When you sign some players, it depends on the money you have and the necessity of the position,” he told The Chronicle regarding Manquillo. “If you sign a striker, and it can only be one striker [that you need], then you have to spend some money. If you have to sign a full-back when you know you already have one, then you cannot spend massive money.
“I’m happy with him [Manquillo] in terms of the way he’s doing things and even in the way he’s playing. What does it mean? That I’m not happy with DeAndre [Yedlin] and the way he’s playing? No, I’m happy with both.
“Could we sign better players? Maybe we could go to the market and spend £15million, £20million or £40million on a full-back, but we cannot so we have to manage what we have, and I’m quite happy with both of them,” he finished.
That’s about as blunt as a manager is ever going to get when discussing his players. Benitez is essentially saying that he had to sign Manquillo because he didn’t have the money to get a better full back.
That’s likely a universal truth for a lot of managers operating in the transfer market, but what did Benitez hope to achieve from revealing it? It’s unlikely to have raised the morale of a player in Manquillo who isn’t likely to be riding high anyway having played second fiddle to Yedlin for much of the season.
Perhaps, though, Manquillo is merely the unfortunate victim of Benitez’s continued jostling with the Newcastle board. He is perpetually disappointed by the amount of money he gets to spend and Manquillo has been used as a specific example of his frustrations.
Still, Benitez coming out and throwing a thinly veiled insult at his compatriot is unlikely to have pleased the player, and you wouldn’t bet against the 24-year-old seeking the St James’ Park exit door this summer as a result.
