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Rafael Benitez has not wasted any time getting stuck in as the new head man at Newcastle United. From calling the players in on a scheduled day off an hour after his first press conference to miraculously inspiring players who were missing training for various injuries to leave the table and hit the pitch, the impact has been immediate. There are new reports flying around the twitter machines that he has acted to bolster his attacking options ahead of his debut match against league leader Leicester City.
The news seems to have roots in a couple of tweets from Newcastle supporters who claim to have seen the 19-year-old leaving Newcastle United's training ground:
Just seen Adam armstrong at Newcastle training ground!! #Nufc
— Michael Hutchinson (@ItsMeHutchy) March 13, 2016
It was 8 hours ago that this tweet and another (which could very well have been a parrot tweet) was sent and there has been no confirmation suggested the recall was a thing. Since then, there has been no official word from the NUFC official account, northeast journos, Coventry City or the player himself.
The rumors were echoed some hours later in a tweet from a potentially dubious source – an unverified twitter account with only 250 tweets – so any excitement must be tempered with a healthy dose of "this might be a wind-up".
BREAKING: Newcastle United have exercised their recall option on Adam Armstrong. The sticker will return to the Magpies. More to follow..
— Coventry City (@CovInsider) March 13, 2016
The move makes a lot of sense if it is based in truth. Our leading scorer is still Gini Wijnaldum (9 goals) – a player who scored nearly half of that tally in one match – while Ayoze Perez is our leading "striker" with 6 goals. For a goal shy club, recalling a player who has scored 19 goals in 30 appearances during his loan spell with Coventry City (even if it is League One) would at the very least address one of Rafa's stated desires: to add confidence to the squad.
It could be one of those twitter windups that everyone loves so well, so take this with a block of salt, but there is enough that makes sense about it that it could be another thing for the Toon Army to get excited about since the capture of Benitez.