'Great' - Matias Fernandez-Pardo issues 14-word statement following Newcastle United debut
Newcastle United new signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo came off the bench to make his debut in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with AFC Bournemouth.
Matias Fernandez-Pardo got his first experience of St James’ Park as Newcastle United came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with AFC Bournemouth.
The 21-year-old deadline-day signing came off the bench for the final half-hour of Newcastle’s Premier League clash. The Magpies were trailing 2-1 at the time with Harvey Barnes halving the deficit after Marcus Tavernier and a Malick Thiaw own goal put the Cherries 2-0 up after 35 minutes.
Fernandez-Pardo joined Newcastle from Lille for £51million and gave Matthias Jaissle’s side fresh energy in the final third as they searched for a way back into the game. Jacob Ramsey then grabbed an equaliser with two minutes of normal time remaining as Newcastle’s unbeaten start to the new season continued.
Fernandez-Pardo arrived at Newcastle without a proper pre-season as he did not play or train properly with Lille following his return from an extended World Cup break. The young forward was part of Belgium’s World Cup squad but was limited to just 41 minutes of football across three substitute appearances at the tournament.
Despite Fernandez-Pardo’s lack of ideal preparation for the new season, Newcastle head coach Jaissle is backing his latest addition to be a success on Tyneside.
“[He will bring] A lot of quality,” Jaissle said. “It's the reason why we have signed him. He is still young but got a lot of potential. We need to be careful to manage him well because of the load.
“He hasn't played for 90 minutes for a long, long time. The whole club and fans can enjoy what we can expect from him in the future."
Following his Newcastle debut, Fernandez-Pardo took to Instagram to post a series of images from the match along with the caption: “First steps at home ⚫️⚪️Great reaction from the team. On to the next ones.”
Next up for Newcastle is a trip to face Millwall in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday night (8pm kick-off). Jaissle could be tempted to rotate his squad and hand Fernandez-Pardo more minutes or even a start against the Championship side.
The Belgian presents a versatile attacking option for his manager, having previously played as a striker, winger and in a deeper No. 10 role.