Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett may have the edge in the battle to replace injured Magpies stalwart Florian Lejeune, according to The Chronicle.
The newspaper claim on their news and transfer centre [08/04; 18:36] that the Welsh international appears to be best placed to take the Frenchman’s spot in the starting line up moving forward.
The 27-year-old was ruled out for the season after picking up another serious injury against Crystal Palace at St James’ Park on Saturday.
It was Dummett who replaced him in that game, and The Chronicle’s report states that he most likely to start in place of Lejeune as he has the edge over the likes of Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez at this moment in time.
OPINION
This would appear to make sense, particularly after Dummett was chosen to replace Lejeune on Saturday. The Welshman has played very well when selected as one of Rafael Benitez’s three centre backs this season, excelling against Everton and Bournemouth recently. Nominally a left back, he seems to be another player that the Spaniard has successfully converted to a new position. He is very adept as a centre back and so it would be no surprise to see him nail down that left centre half role down the stretch this season. Clark and Fernandez are natural centre backs by trade. The former, however, has missed much of the campaign through injury and doesn’t appear to be particularly high in Benitez’s centre half pecking order. Fernandez, then, would likely be Dummett’s fiercest competition. The Argentinian has been below par when he’s played of late, though, meaning that Dummett likely will be the man to replace Lejeune moving forward.
