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Paul Dummett will give Newcastle United “something different” when he returns - and some fans do not realise how important the left-back is to the Magpies side, insists Rafa Benitez.

The 26-year-old has not featured since being forced off in the seventh minute of the opening-day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur with a hamstring problem.

However, Dummett returned to full training last week and could be involved against Manchester United next Saturday, though he is more likely to make his comeback later in the month.

During Dummett’s absence, three players have covered in at left-back: right-footed full-backs Javier Manquillo and Jesus Gamez, as well as centre-half Chancel Mbemba.

(Image: Newcastle United)

And Benitez is keen to welcome back a player who made 45 appearances in the Championship last term, someone who he believes will help United defensively - as well as from set pieces.

“I was talking with my staff about him. People don’t realise how important as a player he is until you lose the player,” Benitez said of Wales international Dummett.

“He was doing well last season. He’s a left-full-back, who is left-footed and who has always done well for us.

“He is someone who knows his job. He is not bad in the air, he is not bad with his left foot.

“People say: ‘He needs to go to the byline and make crosses’. It doesn’t matter: he can make passes, he can defend, he can help at set pieces.

“He is a player who will give you something different. Something we don’t have already.”

Over the last month, Benitez has settled upon DeAndre Yedlin and Manquillo as his two full-backs during Dummett’s absence.

And, though Manquillo has been playing at left-back, he is right-footed and Benitez stresses that the Spaniard was originally acquired as back-up to the first team rather than as a start for this term

But Manquillo has had to play due to Dummett’s injury and the club’s inability to bring in further full-back cover during the summer.

“Manquillo is not a left-full-back. He is working as one and doing a really good job because he is right-footed and should play on the other side,” Benitez said of the £3.5million summer signing from Atletico Madrid.

“You have to realise the situation we are in. We were thinking about bringing him in, he would learn little by little and maybe be on the bench but we had to play him straight away.”