​Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman has been singing Rafa Benitez's praises, hailing the Spanish boss as a real asset to his development.





Woodman, now on loan at Kilmarnock, was told by Benitez to ' play men's football' so he could gain experience and return to the team an improved player.

The 20-year-old revealed that the manager often texts him and passes on advice based on his experiences working with top stoppers such as Keylor Navas and Pepe Reina.





“The gaffer at Newcastle, Rafa Benitez, texts me quite often to see how I’m doing in general and how I’m performing at the weekends,” Woodman said to The Sunday Herald (H/T ​Chronicle Live).





“I stay in contact with him quite a lot, and also with the other lads down there.





“They’re always asking after me and it’s a good thing.

“My long-term aim is definitely to be the first-choice keeper at Newcastle one day. I set a lot of goals and that’s one of them.





“But I know that what I’m doing now matters, and Rafa said to me before I went away that I’d need to get loan games and more experience, and ultimately play men’s football.





“Rafa was brilliant for me when he first came in to Newcastle. As a young goalkeeper, I didn’t think he’d take much interest in me but he talked to me all the time about the keepers he’s had, such as Pepe Reina and Keylor Navas at Real Madrid.

“Even in training, his attention to detail is the best I’ve ever seen in the game.





“He watches every single bit of movement a goalkeeper makes and every decision a goalkeeper makes.





“Rafa always wants to improve and learn new things, and it’s amazing I can get that sort of knowledge from a man like him.





“He is a Champions League winner and he’s won things at every club he has been at. Hopefully this year Newcastle will win the Championship - I feel that they will do it.





“It’s actually quite surreal to tell your mates that Rafa Benitez is texting you and keeping tabs on you.”

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