Fabricio Coloccini Praises Chancel Mbemba For Immediate Impact At Newcastle

Newcastle United captain Fabricio Coloccini has praised Chancel Mbemba for "helping" the Magpies out straight away upon his arrival in the Barclays Premier League. Mbemba signed for the Magpies from Anderlecht for £8 million this summer and had only trained with his Newcastle teammates a few times when he was handed his debut alongside Coloccini in central-defence against Southampton last weekend. And his Argentine captain has praised Mbemba for the way he has been able to slot seamlessly into a new league and a new side. Speaking to NUFCTV, Coloccini said of the Democratic Republic of Congo international:

"To be fair normally for a player who has come from another country it takes them a few months to adapt to a new league and he played like he has been playing for a long time in the Premier League. "(That) is very good for us because we need players to come and help us and straight away go (on) to the pitch and do well like he did so (along) with the team I am very happy for him. As well (I am happy) for Gini (Georginio Wijnaldum) because he did very well as well."

Following their opening 2-2 draw with the Saints, Newcastle now head to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday to face Swansea City (3pm kick-off). Coloccini is confident that, given more gametime, his and Mbemba's central-defensive partnership can flourish in the future, despite the fact they conceded two headed goals last weekend. He added:

"Yeah I think we've been training for a week (together) but it's not the same as in a game. "I think that if we keep playing then we can keep improving little things."

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