There was no explosion. No outpouring of anger. No rant about the current situation.
Instead, there was a man seemingly resigned to the usual deflating end to a Newcastle United January transfer window.
“Still we have time”: That was the phrase Rafa Benitez repeatedly uttered as he was pressed by TV journalists about transfers.
“We don’t want to talk about transfers,” was part of the response to the first question put to him about this wretched January window.
As the first reporter pressed him that he “had to ask these questions”, Benitez smiled and merely shrugged his shoulders. “I know,” he replied.
Rafa Benitez talks to the media (Image: Newcastle United)
When the inevitable Daniel Sturridge question arrived, the Spaniard was a little more cold and firm in his response: “We don’t talk about transfers.”
This was a manager seemingly seething on the inside, but controlled and calm on the outside. His “focus”, as he kept stressing, was “on Burnley” and “winning three points”.
Tellingly, when asked whether he had been given adequate support by the club this month, Benitez responded pointedly: “It will not cange anything for this game.”
Read More
The transfer dealings are, frustratingly, out of his hands. He has given his list, he has told the board what he needs, and he once again offered the suggestion that he was “still confident” that signings would arrive.
There was no real conviction behind the statement. Benitez is frustrated, but he is keeping his cool for now.
Perhaps he will lose his cool tomorrow evening. But, for now, he just seems like every other Newcastle United manager two days before the end of the January transfer window.
It was hard to watch at times, but there is little more the Spaniard can do.