OPINION
£6million won’t get you much in football these days. One of Neymar’s toenails perhaps, or a single hair from Kylian Mbappe’s head.
But it can get you a top class centre back, as Newcastle United discovered this summer when they purchased Federico Fernandez from Swansea City for a fee that Sky Sports reported was as measly as the above figure.
The Argentina international has been irrepressible ever since, playing 90 minutes in nine of the team’s 12 Premier League games so far this season.
Keeping goals out has rarely been a problem for the Magpies this term, it’s scoring them that was the difficult part early in the campaign, and Fernandez has been a big reason for that.
The 29-year-old looks like he has been playing for the club for years, forming a solid partnership with captain Jamaal Lascelles and, more recently, Fabian Schar. What’s more amazing is that he was only brought to St James’ Park because of the injury suffered by Florian Lejeune in pre season.
That tremendous negative has been turned into a positive for Newcastle by Fernandez’s form since joining the club.
Manager Rafael Benitez is, understandably, thrilled with the player: “Fede is a player with experience of the Premier League, like Salomon [Rondon],” he told the Shields Gazette after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth. “We were looking for something that we were missing, maybe, last year.
The victory over the high flying Cherries was another example of how well Fernandez has settled into life in the North East.
He was excellent against Bournemouth, shutting down the considerable threat posed by Eddie Howe’s side and ensuring that the Magpies came away with three points for the second week in a row.
For £6million it is no doubt that Fernandez is emerging as one of the signings of the season – he has been a phenomenal bargain for Newcastle.