Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has tipped Ayoze Perez for greatness if he can overcome the hurdle of his inconsistent goal scoring form.
The Magpies ace scored the all important winner against Leicester City on Friday night, flicking Matt Ritchie’s cross into the back of the net with a smart header, to give Benitez and his team three points which should seal their place in the Premier League for next season.
Speaking of the 25-year-old, who is a particular favourite of the manager in the first team squad, Benitez tipped that he could be playing for someone like Manchester City were it not for his inability to consistently perform.
He told the Chronicle: “To be fair last season he scored eight goals and you can see he has the ability to a lot of time the right thing but sometimes he needs to be little more consistent. If not, maybe he’d be playing for Manchester City already!
“He’s really good in a lot of things but there’s things he can improve and he’s working on that.”
Opinion
Perez has come under serious fire from the Newcastle faithful during his time at St James’ Park but the fact of the matter is he has a knack of scoring those all important goals which can often swing a match in their favour. Benitez picking out his inconsistency as a problem is exactly what the Toon Army have been thinking. The talent is obviously there but he just cannot put it into practice often enough, which leaves the Newcastle United fan base tearing their hair out. You expect that Benitez would not mind if Perez stopped trying to do the magnificent and put in constant 7/10 performances for the Magpies. That way he could have an impact on every game, instead of flitting in and out of the match when he has the ball. However, you would do well to find a handful of Newcastle fans who believe he would be good enough for someone like Manchester City – which goes to show how far he has until he hits his full potential in Benitez’s eyes.
