Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has been handed a huge boost ahead of his side’s clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers with record signing Miguel Almiron joining in training for the first time on Tuesday, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper claim that the Paraguayan international, who completed his move from Atlanta United to St James’ Park on deadline day, was handed his work permit on Monday and was introduced into training on Tuesday, with the Magpies’ visit to Molineux taking place on Monday.
Almiron was said to have been joined by a number of other names in training, with Mo Diame, Sung-Yueng Ki and Paul Dummett all reportedly edging closer to a return from their injury setbacks, the trio all important members of the first team squad.
Opinion
Simply having Almiron in and around the training ground and playing alongside his new teammates will be a huge lift for everyone at the club, who are extremely excited to see what he can bring to the side. Not only will the former Atlanta man be warmly welcomed, but the missing men will give Benitez a lot more to think about when he is picking his side and that is a headache he will be glad to have. Dummett, Ki and Diame have all been regular starters when everyone is fully fit and so to have had them missing recently has threatened their success. The emergence of Sean Longstaff in the middle of the pitch has been a major silver lining for the Magpies but the truth of the matter is that the manager wants as many options as available for the rest of the season. The question is have any of the quartet done enough to earn a start at Wolves? There is a case for all of them to be thrown into the deep end at Molineux but only Benitez will know exactly what he wants to do.