OPINION
Kevin Nolan delivered his verdict on Newcastle United new boy Miguel Almiron and in the process he surely fuelling the fears of many Magpies supporters in the process.
The former Magpies midfielder shared that he thought that patience was required at St James Park regarding the 25-year-old as coming from the MLS to the Premier League was a huge jump.
Nolan compared Almiron and former Manchester United attacker Wayne Rooney during his verdict to point out how the 120-cap England international was struggling in England’s top division before going and setting the MLS on fire, in order to highlight the gulf in level.
“Well I mean if you can’t stand up to you’re going to crumble in the spotlight there as I’ve seen plenty of good players who haven’t been able to hit it off especially with the record transfer fee on his head and y’know switching from the MLS to the Premier League, you only have to see the impact Wayne Rooney had over in the MLS to see that as he wasn’t having that impact previously in the Premier League, which he had for the majority of his career, and he has gone out there and set it on fire,” said Nolan on Sky Sports News (Monday February 11th, 11:13am).
“So Almiron is coming the opposite way and is a young boy, what he has got to do is he keeps his head down, works hard on his game but it’s gonna be tough for him.
“I’m hoping they don’t expect too much too soon as sometimes when you get a player coming from MLS to the Premier League you’re gonna need time to adjust.”
Given that Rafa Benitez’s side are crying out for a No.10 like Almiron in order to help them fight off the threat of relegation from the Premier League, there’s clearly a lot of pressure on him to succeed, and do it in a speedy fashion.
With Nolan comparing Rooney with Almiron, it does show how he has doubts that the 25-year-old can make the impact he needs to do before the season ends.
In fact while several Magpies supporters are no doubt thrilled and hopeful at seeing Almiron in action, many of them are no doubt concerned about how he will fare in the Premier League which is generally perceived as being better than the MLS.
Therefore based on Nolan generally sharing the same opinion and using the example of Rooney to make his point, surely his fuelling their fears about how well Almiron will fare.