A section of Newcastle United fans have taken to Twitter to react to the news of boss Rafa Benitez beginning work on January transfers.
According to the Chronicle, Benitez has already held talks with head of recruitment Steve Nickson about potential options they could pursue once the window opens at the start of next year.
NEW: Rafa begins work on January.
Does it mean anything about long-term planning?https://t.co/mdNzYUqg5N
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) September 9, 2018
The Spaniard is intending to bring in another striker, midfielder and left-back to add some extra depth to this squad, and some United fans have responded to this news on Twitter.
Some comments have included “that’s the nature of the man” and “absolutely zero point in Rafa planning”.
This is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
Nice little short story,
"Rafa begins planning for January, The End."
— Kevin WI ?? ??????? (@Kev_1985_) September 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/AustraliaToon1/status/1038793722153054209
Absolutely zero point in Rafa planning, Charnley and MA will only end up signing (if anyone) Rafa’s 20th choice LB.
— Simon Logan (@_SimonLogan) September 9, 2018
Maybe Rafa should put his first choices down as 20th choices so he will get them! #NUFC
— MC (@cook_uk) September 9, 2018
No. He won’t stop doing the job just because he’s leaving in May. He’ll try to sign players, Ashley will say no. Dejavu
— Joseph MacCabe (@josephmaccabe) September 9, 2018
As they’ll be be right in the mire come Xmas & Rafa knows it he is trying his best get on with it & to plan ahead but also likely he knows deep down he’ll get absolutely no help from above..
— Burbs81 (@TOON_N_I) September 10, 2018
That’s the nature of the man….he is meticulous in his planning….not expecting anything as per usual from MA
— Janet (@janshoes) September 9, 2018
OPINION
It is hard not to agree with some of the fans here when they say that the club will end up signing Benitez’ “20th choice left-back”. Owner Mike Ashley has been notoriously stingy when it comes to parting ways with his cash in order to provide funds for players, and Benitez often has to go through the board to get them to approve signings. Many of the supporters are right to praise Benitez for the fact that he is planning ahead, although it does look like they are not reading too much into this report. Whether he will be able to bring in players that fulfil his wishes remain to be seen, but it will be interesting to see how the January window pans out in light of this recent news. One fan even remarked that there is no point in Benitez planning ahead – and maybe they are right. Benitez has not got all of the players that he wanted in the past, and there is no reason why that could not be set to continue.