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Report reveals the four players Benitez fought to keep after relegation

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Image for Report reveals the four players Benitez fought to keep after relegation

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez desperately tried to keep four Magpies stars at the club after the team’s 2015-16 relegation, according to The Chronicle.

The newspaper claims that the Spaniard fought to try and retain the services of Georginio Wijnaldum, Moussa Sissoko, Florian Thauvin and Andros Townsend.

The Magpies boss had designs on setting a host of Championship records and wanted to keep the four internationals to help him achieve that goal.

However, the quartet all departed during the summer of 2016. Sissoko went to Tottenham Hotspur, Wijnaldum to Liverpool, Townsend to Crystal Palace and Thauvin to Marseille, initially on loan but later a permanent deal.

OPINION

When you look at these names it’s just absolutely incredible to think that a team including these players contrived to get themselves relegated in 2016. The aforementioned quartet includes two players, in Sissoko and Wijnaldum, who will compete in the Champions League final this season, while Thauvin is widely expected to secure a move to a big European team this summer on the back of some stunning form since re-joining Marseille. Sissoko and Wijnaldum, in particular, have emerged as two of the Premier League’s finest central midfielders this season, while Townsend has continued to operate at a high level for Palace. Imagine what Benitez could have done with these players had they stayed where they were. However, you can’t really blame them for moving when they did, particularly Sissoko and Wijnaldum who joined big teams with fantastic managers. Still, you get a heavy sense of what might have been looking at these four names.

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