Newcastle United midfielder Isaac Hayden offered Miguel Almiron a humorous word of encouragement after he was was quickly scythed down on his Magpies debut on Monday, according to The Chronicle.
The club record signing came on as a second half substitute in his team’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, and within minutes he was cynically brought down by Wolves star Joao Moutinho.
Hayden is then said to have told the Paraguay international: “I suppose that’s a ‘Welcome-to-English-football tackle’.” Almiron simply smiled back at his team mate.
It is unlikely that Almiron knew what Hayden was saying given that his English isn’t particularly advanced at this stage.
OPINION
You often see players brought in from foreign leagues, particularly technically gifted players who could be perceived as being flashy, handed a ‘reducer’ of a tackle early on in their debut. That’s very much what happened to Almiron here. The 25-year-old was breaking clear down the pitch and was cynically hacked down by Moutinho. For a moment there were fears that he was genuinely injured, as the new signing writhed in pain on the Molineux turf. However, he was lifted to his feet by Hayden and given a few encouraging words. Hayden was basically saying that the worst is over, they wanted to send Almiron a message and now it’s done. To the winger’s credit it didn’t seem to affect him. He simply got on with his game and tried to influence the contest in a positive way. Hopefully as time goes on Almiron will continue to learn English and soon be able to reply to his team mates.