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Rafa Making "Good Progress" In Transfer Market
Written by Newcastle Utd
Rafa Benitez on Newcastle's work in the transfer market - and why any new signings must be right for the Club and for his squad
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Rafa Benitez says Newcastle United are "making very good progress" in the transfer market - and has cast the net far and wide to ensure that his squad is well-prepared to bounce back into the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Since agreeing a new deal to stay on as the Club's manager last month, Benitez has made sure that no time is wasted ahead of the 2016/17 Championship campaign. And although he has yet to make his first signing of the summer, he has indicated that it's only a matter of time.
Long-serving defender Steven Taylor was among those to leave St. James' Park when Benitez announced his retained list last week, while full-back Kevin Mbabu was handed a new deal.
But Benitez is working with managing director Lee Charnley and head scout Graham Carr to bring in some new faces and, in an interview with the Chronicle, he admitted that he was looking both at home and abroad.
"I don't care where a player is from, just that he is the right player for Newcastle United and for the squad that we want to build," Benitez said.
"I have good connections abroad and I am using those connections and working with Lee and with Graham. It is a good partnership and (as) I said before we are making very good progress.
"We have to think about the type of player who is best for the Championship, because everybody knows it is a very different league, more physical and it is tougher in different ways than the Premier League.
"But also we cannot just focus on building a strong squad for the Championship, because we hope we will only be there for one season; we have to build a squad that we are confident can help us out of the Championship and then can perform also strongly in the Premier League.
"Having experience of playing in the Championship can be important, but it is important to have a mix of players who can each bring different qualities to the team.
"Mentality, experience, skill, determination, how everyone works together for the team, all these things are important.
"I think I don't need to talk about specific positions. Our fans are very knowledgeable; they will know which positions we need to strengthen, just like we know.
"We are working to strengthen positions in which we are weak, of course. We have our priorities, we have our targets and we are making very good progress behind the doors."