Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray has told the Coventry Telegraph's Andy Turner that Adam Armstrong is not the answer to Newcastle United's problems.
Mowbray said: ''I can’t sit here worrying about it.
“You do these deals with all the best intentions and you have to put it into context that it’s not the Premier League he’s scoring goals in.
“Having managed in the Premier League and the Championship, here I am in League One which is a million miles away from the Premier League. The speed and the size and the physicality of the players that he’d play against there is completely different.
“Steve McClaren was England manager and is a very, very experienced football man who knows what’s right and wrong.
“He’ll know, he’ll have watched Adam in his first month of his tenure at Newcastle through pre-season and felt that it’s right for him to go out and play some football, score some goals and get his confidence up and then reassess things in January. It’s about development and, bottom line, this is an 18-year-old boy.
“I don’t know how much they spent on strikers,” said Mowbray; “maybe £25million – getting on for £10m on one and £15m on another.
“I suppose Steve has to look at it and be conscious that you have got to give a £15million striker time to settle in. I know he got himself sent off but, like with some of our young players, you give them time to see who their friends are, who they can trust, how they fit into the group really. They need time to settle in and it can be harder if they’ve come from another country.
“If you are going to stick those players on the bench and play an 18-year-old kid then you’re going to demoralise them because at that money they come with an ego and think they’re going to score goals in the Premier League. It’s their dream then, all of a sudden, an 18-year-old boy sits them on the bench.
“You have to be careful how you manage the personality of those players. You have got to give them a chance, put your arm around them and get the fans on board and excited about them.
“No-one scores every game so you have to give them a bit of leeway – that’s how I would see it.
“It’s out of my control but I think Steve McClaren is an experienced enough football manager to understand that maybe an 18-year-old boy is not the answer to their issues.”
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