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Opinion

What else is Rafa Benitez going to say?

6 years ago
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It is interesting to see how the media works these days.

Or rather, how simplistic they are, in making a blatantly feeble story out of basically nothing.

Newcastle United bought Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba from Anderlecht in summer 2015, the pair being two of the Belgian club’s star players.

Matz Sels is spending this season on loan from Newcastle at Anderlecht.

Not surprisingly, for Anderlecht in particular and Belgian football in general, there is still a lot of ongoing interest in how Mitro and Mbemba are getting on in English football.

Asked by Belgian media this week, why Chancel Mbemba isn’t getting a game at Newcastle, no surprise that Matz Sels talked the DR Congo defender up (see below). After all, what else is he going to say?

Similarly, Friday saw the Matz Sels comments put to Rafa Benitez, and likewise, what else is he going to say?

The Newcastle boss saying that Chancel Mbemba is training well and pointing to competition for places as the main reason for not selecting him BUT leaving it open that you never know, Mbemba might get a chance in these remaining five games.

However, if you are honest, no doubt Rafa would say that if you had asked about any current out of favour player. Whether it is Mikel Merino or Jacob Murphy, or even Massadio Haidara and Jesus Gamez – even though they will be out of contract in a couple of months time (though even then the media keep trying to make a story out of whether they could be still offered new deals, even though there is zero chance and Rafa never even puts them on the bench).

The Newcastle Manager is too much of a professional to hang players out to dry, as say Alan Pardew would do.

Plus of course, Benitez needs every penny he can get this summer, so maximising fees on the likes of Chancel Mbemba isn’t going to be helped by slagging him off in public.

In the last 71 league games, Rafa Benitez has given Chancel Mbemba 13 starts, and many/most of those have either been due to injuries, going with five at the back, or games as an emergency left-back.

If Mbemba does play at all these next three weeks, or even get on the bench, it will be for only for only one reason – to try and sell him/get best price this season.

Bottom line is that the former Anderlecht player hasn’t even been named as one of Rafa’s seven Premier League subs since December.

Rafa Benitez is an honest manager but that does not mean we all have to take everything that he says at face value.

You are allowed to read between the lines and also look at the patently obvious – such as Rafa not even giving Chancel Mbemba the odd sit on the bench to keep him at least a little but interested.

Matz Sels:

“For me, Chancel Mbemba is one of the best defenders at Newcastle United.

“Why does he play so little?

“I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”

Rafa Benitez quizzed on Chancel Mbemba after Matz Sels’ comments:

“He was training [this week] and training well…but the problem sometimes is, when the team are winning and you already have, in this case, four players in this position, it’s not easy for everyone at these times.

“With five games left, maybe he will have a chance.

“We will see, he is training well.

“Now is maybe the time some players need to prove themselves.

“So maybe I will make some changes, to make sure that some players are given a chance to impress the staff, and then think about their future.

“Some players are playing for their futures.”
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