Matias Fernandez-Pardo tops Premier League chart as Jaissle praises £51m Belgian

Matias Fernandez-Pardo has only been on Tyneside for a matter of weeks, but he is already showing supporters exactly what he can bring to Matthias Jaissle's side in terms of his off the ball work.

Admittedly, Newcastle struggled to get good service into the Belgian in Saturday's 2-1 win over Hull, but his running numbers were quite something.

Fernandez-Pardo made more sprints (28) and covered the highest sprint distance of any Premier League player over the weekend, despite being withdrawn in the 74th minute.

No pre-season, no problem and Jaissle praise 

What makes the numbers even more impressive is the context.

Fernandez-Pardo only joined from Lille on deadline day. Not only did he have no proper pre-season with Newcastle, he wasn't part of Lille's summer programme and only had limited minutes at the World Cup with Belgium. Prior to Leeds last Monday, his last competitive start was on 18th May. 

Jaissle has already made it clear that the Belgian's physical capabilities were one of the reasons Newcastle wanted him, and praised the 21-year-old in his post-match press conference. 

 "I was really happy with him. Maybe you saw it differently from me. He did an amazing job - out of possession especially he was stressing the opposition.

"The (Hull) keeper, it gave us this confidence to get higher possession to win the second balls earlier, not defending their own box...

"All these small margins again are effecting the team performance. He did his job on a really high level. 

"Also in possession he threatened the opposition even though maybe you don't see it too often but with his movement and speed he is causing the opposition many problems."

Fernandez-Pardo built to run - but where is his best position? 

There was plenty of excitement around this signing because of his pace, directness and ability to operate either centrally or in wide areas.

We are yet to see his undoubted quality on the ball, but Saturday highlighted his impressive running power and lightning speed, which was 

In fact, Ligue 1's own end-of-season data showed that Fernandez-Pardo covered more sprinting distance than any other player in the French top flight last season, while also recording the most sprints.

With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by his weekend stats.But seeing him producing those numbers in the Premier League, after arriving without a pre-season, is still pretty remarkable.

The next challenge is getting him on the ball more, figuring out his best position and seeing our £51m signing add goals and assists to the side.