Newcastle United spent months trying to sort out a renewal for Rafael Benitez.
However, the Magpies failed to find an agreement with the manager over a new deal and the latter left his position at St James’ Park.
The former Liverpool boss helped the Tyneside club achieve promotion by winning the Championship in the 2016/17 season. Even though the Spaniard’s transfer demands were not met by the English side, he managed to keep Newcastle in the Premier League.
Martin Dubravka was one of the players signed by Benitez for the English side and the goalkeeper has been regular for the club, with that continuing under new manager Steve Bruce.
The Slovakia international has stressed it’s a challenging job for the new manager to fill the void left by Benitez’s departure.
“It is important to me that my position has not changed. I’m continuing (to play) and I’m happy about it,” Dubravka was quoted as saying by Pravda.
“It would be difficult for any coach coming after Benitez because he has a name. People loved him there. Bruce was given the opportunity. It is challenging and he strives to motivate us very much in both matches and training.”
Newcastle have managed four points in their first four fixtures and their first victory of the season was against Tottenham Hotspur. Dubravka remains confident his side can climb up the table and has backed the new signings to help as the season progress.
“I have a little mixed feeling, but it’s better than a year ago, where we started the season badly. At the beginning of the season, we played Arsenal and we wanted a better result in this match. Only one goal decided [the outcome of the match],” he said.
“We would like to stabilise our performance and climb up the table. The club has invested a lot of money in new additions, and I believe it will happen. New players have a chance to show their quality.”
