Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has picked out the names of the four ‘very important players’ whom the club lost after being relegated back in 2016.
Even though the team possessed several gifted players, Benitez was not able to prevent them from going down as Newcastle were relegated from the top flight of English football back in the 2015/16 season.
During the Magpies’ battle against relegation, most of the players in the squad were linked with a move to bigger clubs in the coming summer.
Even though Newcastle were reluctant to sell at first, the club eventually caved in and ended up letting go of several star players in order to make a profit.
Almost three years after that dark summer at the club, Rafa Benitez has reflected on the exits which were sanctioned by the Magpies.
“We lost very, very important players when we were relegated,” he told The Chronicle.
“You see they are now playing in the Premier League – [Andros] Townsend, [Moussa] Sissoko, [Daryl] Janmaat, [Georginio] Wijnaldum. They are good players.
“We lost something but, little by little, we were building something new. What do we have now? We have a team that we know, and everybody knows, that every player cares, and everybody is focused – all these things. So it is different.”