"I have not seen all the videos of the games from last season but I've spoken to a lot of people who have told me Steve is player better now," said Benitez. "At the beginning of the season he wanted to know if his future was here because he had some offers. In the end we decided we wanted him here. That's been a good decision for him and for us. Now I think he has more confidence and is improving and learning all the time. I can see he is a good player and I'm very happy with him. He's playing at a high level all the time and getting better every week.
"Sometimes you work with players and they don't increase their level but Steve is working very hard and improving all the time. One of his best qualities is that he is very clever and when you have intelligence as a player and you analyse things on the pitch, you improve quicker."