Bruce "very, very impressed" by player barely used by Rafa Benitez - One to watch this season?
Steve Bruce has revealed that he's been "very, very impressed" by what he's seen from Newcastle forward Yoshinori Muto.
The forward was barely used by Benitez last season, starting just a handful of games and often struggling to gain more than a couple of minutes of game time from the bench, however he's looked sharper in a few of our pre-season outings this summer.
He scored the winner and was the best player on the pitch in our 1-0 win over West Ham in China, while he's also looked lively in wins over Hibernian and St Etienne, with his movement and energy causing havoc up front.
As a result, it looks like Steve Bruce has been left highly impressed, with him appearing to see the Japanese international as a very capable attacking options ahead of the big kick off this Sunday:
“Like I’ve always said, since I’ve come into this job – not this Newcastle job, management – you’re only as good as your strikers.
“With Muto, who I’ve been very, very impressed with and Almiron, and Dwight Gayle, we have got a nice balance up there. Let’s hope they can score the goals that every club in the Premier League needs to do.”
I don't expect him to start a great deal unless there's injuries to Joelinton, Almiron or Saint-Maximin, but it feels like he's far closer to first team action than he was under Rafa - which is ironic given it was the Spaniard who brought him in for £9.5m this time last summer.
Good luck to him. He didn't really get a fair crack last season and has looked sharp in pre-season, also making a real effort to improve his english by all accounts.
