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A British core reintroduced to Newcastle United by a Spanish manager?

That’s exactly what has happened this term and, as Rafa Benitez himself accepts, that was entirely necessary given the relentless physical demands of the second tier of English football.

The process, to be fair, was started under Steve McClaren with the signings of Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend in January - and the former Magpies boss had wanted to recruit homegrown talent during his first transfer window too, only for his requests to fall on deaf.

But Benitez - whose unparalleled control over transfers when compared to Mike Ashley’s previous eight managers means he could enact the exact policy he believed necessary - has been able to see this homegrown recruitment drive extended further.

United have fielded 11 Brits in the league so far this season - admittedly the now on-loan Adam Armstrong being one of them - while three Irishmen are also present in the Magpies’ first-team squad and Jamie Sterry could soon be pushing for a role once his Coventry City spell is finished.

“We knew the Championship is so difficult that we needed players with experience of the Championship and of English football,” Benitez explained of his decision to target British and Irish recruits over the summer.

“What’s good is the British players - or players with Championship experience - they knew already about the physicality, the importance of every contact.

“It was important to get players with knowledge of this side of the game to add to our quality and to what we already had.

“We have brought some experienced players in, so now I think we have enough experience, young players and talent, that we have a good mix.

“You want to prepare a team to be compact, and you want to compete.

“Will it be more physical [than the Premier League]? Yeah, it could be.

“Then you have players with experience in the Championship and you hope that they can cope with the intensity and the physicality.”

And the Magpies certainly have that now.

Shelvey and Townsend arrived in January - though the latter has since departed - and over the summer the Magpies recruited more British players in a single window than they have done before in the Ashley era.

Crucially, all have arrived with second-tier - or Premier League - experience as well.

Isaac Hayden won promotion with Hull City last season, Grant Hanley captained Blackburn Rovers, Matt Ritchie had a hand in 32 goals last time he was in the Championship and Dwight Gayle also knows the division from his time at Peterborough United.

Then you have Irish internationals Daryl Murphy - who scored 50 goals in 123 second-tier games for Ipswich Town - and former Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark, who has extensive experience in English football.

And this group have complemented the British and Irish contingent United already had nicely.

Benitez has even handed the captain’s armband to a homegrown defender in Jamaal Lascelles after years of an Argentine skippering the Magpies.

What’s more only three players have featured in every single one of Newcastle’s 11 Championship games this season - Shelvey, Lascelles and Ritchie - and all of them are British.

Another three Brits have made nine appearances or more.

Benitez insists that nationality does not play too big a part in his recruitment drive - and, should United get back to the Premier League, expect a higher number of foreign imports to arrive - but he is also shrewd enough to realise players with a high level of Championship experience tend to be British.

As a result, more than half of his first-team squad hail from the British Isles.

Given that Newcastle currently sit third in the Championship, just three points off top spot, it is serving Benitez and the Magpies well so far at the very least.

Newcastle United’s British (and Irish) contingent 2016/17:

Jonjo Shelvey - 11 league appearances

Jamaal Lascelles - 11

Matt Ritchie - 11

Isaac Hayden - 10

Paul Dummett - 10

Dwight Gayle - 9

Jack Colback - 7

Ciaran Clark - 6

Rolando Aarons - 4

Grant Hanley - 3

(Adam Armstrong - 2)*

Karl Darlow - 2

Daryl Murphy - 0

Rob Elliot - 0

Freddie Woodman - 0

*Now out on loan at Barnsley until January