OPINION
Yoshinori Muto’s debut season in English football hasn’t exactly gone as he would have hoped, but he may yet get a chance to redeem himself.
That’s because club record signing Miguel Almiron has already been ruled out for the season due to injury, while attacker Ayoze Perez also picked up a hip problem against Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday.
Whether Perez fully recovers in time to face Liverpool on Saturday or not remains to be seen, but with two of Newcastle’s starting front three enduring injury problems, Muto has a real chance to make a big impression on manager Rafael Benitez before the campaign ends.
The 26-year-old simply must make the most of the blows to his teammates – particularly Perez’s. It would be a risk for Benitez to start the Spaniard against the Reds, with Muto an obvious choice to replace him in the starting line up if he doesn’t make it.
If he doesn’t, he could potentially face the axe this summer. That might sound rather ruthless considering this is his first season with the club, but the Japan international has disappointed to such an extent that if he doesn’t build up some credit in the last two games of the season then he could well be on his way out in a few months time.
Benitez isn’t going to be given a big boatload of cash to spend this summer. Instead, he might need to offload a few players to give himself a bit more cash to spend.
At the moment you would have to say that Muto is one of those stars who is at risk of being sacrificed. He needs to do something quickly or it could be a chastening summer for him.
