Pardew: Dummett should follow Bale lead
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has instructed promising youngster Paul Dummett to follow the lead of Gareth Bale.
The 21-year-old is battling to establish himself in the first team after returning from a successful loan spell with Scottish Premiership side St Mirren.
And Pardew wants the defender to set his sights high.
"I've told him he's a left-back today," Pardew told The Chronicle. "But Gareth Bale was a left-back one day and now he's worth £86million.
"So come on, if he starts bursting forward and gets some goals...
"Everybody loves him, and he's a proper local boy that's come through the system.
"Not only that he's really carrying the flag in terms of pushing for the first team.
"Davide Santon knows that. Who knows whether he would have played as well as he did against Fulham without the pressure from Dummy. Maybe not.
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"It all goes hand in hand, and we might have to see the very best of Davide to stay in the team."
Dummett has been named on the bench for Newcastle's opening three Premier League games and was given 41 minutes in the defeat to Manchester City.