Rafa Benitez has reunited at Everton with a former colleague from Newcastle United in fitness and rehab coach Cristian Fernandez.
The Spanish duo worked together for five years on Tyneside with the Magpies and have a close connection from their days together at Newcastle.
According to Chronicle Live, the Spanish manager brought him to St. James’ Park from Northampton Town in 2016 in a promotion up the English footballing pyramid.
In that view, Benitez is a personal admirer of his work and will be delighted to have bolstered his backroom options with a coach he has history with.
Moreover, Fernandez himself was delighted with the new role at Everton and wasted no time in taking to social media to share the news.
The coach took to his personal Twitter account at the weekend to post about the update.
Sharing a picture of Goodison Park, Fernandez said: “New chapter, new home.”
Twitter: New chapter…New Home
https://t.co/0mIEatVDTr (@Cristian_mfm)
He also posted a personal message of thanks to Newcastle and their fans in a touching tribute to his former employers.
Twitter: Thanks for everything @NUFC
https://t.co/rG0i46EekK (@Cristian_mfm)
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Investing in backroom staff can surely only be a good thing, and Benitez clearly had an influence in poaching the coach from his former club.
It’s also not the first time that Everton have raided Newcastle’s backroom team; Head of Sports Science Jamie Harley came to Everton earlier in the summer.
Fans will surely be hoping Fernandez can make a meaningful contribution to the reliability of the squad’s fitness across the season and will be looking for an upturn in terms of availability sooner rather than later.
