It appears that Henri Saivet is not the biggest fan of Rafa Benitez, and the way the Spanish manager treated him while they were at Newcastle United together is not something the player will ever forget.
The midfielder, who is now playing for Pau FC in France, gave an interview to 90 Football, relayed by Girondins4Ever, where he explained exactly what happened with the Magpies and how badly he was treated by the now Celta Vigo boss.
Returning to Newcastle from a loan at Saint-Etienne, the player enjoyed a pre-season with some appearances in friendlies, but once the season started, he wasn’t playing despite being in the group.
That’s when he went to Benitez to ask him what the problem was, but the Spaniard simply told him not to worry, that he was a ‘good player’ and his time would come.
For Saivet, giving up was never an option, but the player simply wanted to go what direction the team was going, since they weren’t exactly winning and he didn’t think those around him were ‘better’ than him.
Still not playing and seeing the transfer window come and go, the player was starting to question what was going on.
He said: “In the end, he never played him, and as soon as the transfer window shut, I wasn’t part of the group, nothing. I’m angry at him for lying. Choices, you can understand and accept them. In football, you have to do things, and it’s complicated for a manager, but you have to be transparent.That’s what was frustrating, to not have transparency from the manager.”
Then, all of a sudden, he was picked for a game against West Ham, despite Benitez never telling him once he would be a part of his plans, which the player ‘couldn’t believe’.
Newcastle would go on to win that game 3-2, with Saivet scoring and the press then being very happy to finally see him live up to early expectations.
Benitez would continue to say that he was an ‘excellent player’, who had a good and professional mentality.
Then: “We have a game three days later, and I’m not even part of the group. Everyone thought there had been something with the manager, but that wasn’t the case. I never spoke badly of him and we never had conflict. Two weeks later, we still didn’t have results, they change their mind and Benitez comes to see me: ‘I made a big mistake, I should have played you. I see your training and you’re an excellent player’.”
Despite this, Benitez still didn’t play him and Saivet decided to leave.
He then says: “When I was leaving, he didn’t even want me to leave. It was unbelievable.”
Saivet then ends by saying that when he was in Turkey, Benitez would continuously text him, telling him he had watched him and how well he had played.
The former Newcastle player says: “He was sending messages all the time. It seemed like it was a joke, that it wasn’t even his number…”
