Two Replacements For Vurnon Anita Who Newcastle Should Look To Sign
With little Vurn now a Leeds United player after having been allowed to leave for free, Newcastle have a wee hole in their squad – or two perhaps.
Anita’s endearing quality was his versatility and although he spent most of his time under Rafa the Gaffer playing at right-back, he was a very capable defensive midfield player too and so with him now gone, there is even more reason for the Toon to sign players for both of those positions.
Here we look at each type of potential incomings who can complement DeAndre Yedlin, Jonjo Shelvey, and Isaac Hayden:
Lucas Leiva (free agent)
Just because Rafa is in charge, Newcastle don’t need to become Liverpool circa 2007. However, there is no doubting that with a need in this area, the 30-year-old Brazilian could do a sterling job.
Lucas worked well at Liverpool when Rafa Benitez was manager and with the player arguably even better now than what he was upon his arrival at Anfield, their relationship could be rekindled to good effect. It’s been shown many times before in football that when two people have a proven work relationship, it’s a valuable commodity to have.
Although it’s a slightly negative way to look at things, Lucas is a better player than Jack Colback and the name of the game for Newcastle right now is improvement. Some new players will be a huge step up, while others will just be that few percent better. But as long as they are adding quality, Rafa knows he is inching towards his goals.
Calum Chambers (Arsenal)
DeAndre Yedlin, it would seem, will be retained, though whether he is good enough to lift Newcastle up the league is open to question. In any case, Benitez knows he will need more than one option at right-back next season and Chambers is the perfect man for the job.
After signing for Arsenal from Southampton for a huge fee, Chambers ended up like so many others in not getting his feet fully under the Emirates table. Much debate has surrounded the England prospect regarding whether he is a centre-back or a right-back, but I think the stats tell their own story.
Having joined Middlesbrough on a season-long loan, Chambers started 20 of his games at centre-back, achieving an average rating on whoscored.com of 6.99/10 in the process. When switching to right-back, although doing it only 5 times, that rating changes to 7.40, which is a very good stat indeed. Chambers has all the attributes that Benitez looks for in a right-back and could yet end up at the Toon come August.