Birmingham City’s Mauro Zarate has been admired for a long time by Rafael Benitez.

“He was a team-mate of Emiliano Insua when Argentina won the Under-20 World Cup,” Benitez told the Offish website.

“He is a player we were monitoring last season because he is a very good striker.

“He is one of four brothers that play football and we know people who are close to them, so we know he’s a very good player.” he added.