Following crunch talks with the Newcastle hierarchy at the beginning of the season, manager Alan Pardew opted to keep Algerian U23 international Mehdi Abeid at St James’ Park – amid speculation linking him with returns to St Johnstone and Panathinaikos – and this decision appears to be paying off.
After impressing on trial at the club, Mehdi Abeid signed for the Magpies, from French outlet Racing Club de Lens, in July 2011. He put pen to paper on a five-year-deal and was immediately placed into the development squad – coached by club legend Peter Beardsley.
At the time of his arrival, Peter referred to the young midfielder as “a bright, young talent” who has “an exciting future ahead of him.”
Eighteen months later, Abeid was loaned out to Scottish side St Johnstone, following an uneventful period upon Tyneside – making just five senior appearances, two of which came in the Europa League. During his six-month spell at McDiarmid Park, the French-born midfielder failed to score and only assisted twice in 13 appearances.
Shortly after Abeid had returned to Tyneside, a decision had been made by Alan Pardew, and his coaching staff, to loan him out, for a second successive season, in search of first-team experience to further his development. The destination of choice was Greek giant Panathinaikos, who were willing to cover his wages and a spot in the first-team squad.
“I sent Mehdi there because he needed to play at a high level, and the Championship teams didn’t know him,” Pardew told reporters. “Fortunately, we got that move to Panathinaikos. It wasn’t a case of Mehdi going there because he was finished. We wanted him to prove he was a good player.”
Having scored ten, and assisted six, in just 38 appearances in Athens, the 22-year-old received plaudits from many – including his manager Giannis Anastasiou and former-Newcastle defender Nikolas Dabizas, who both admitted they wanted to make his stay in Greece permanent
After contributing toward Panathinaikos’ third place finish and Greek Cup final win, Mehdi’s loan deal with the Greens expired and he returned to Tyneside, once more.
History repeated itself as Abeid again found himself surplus to requirements at the club following his loan stint at Panathinaikos having not made the necessary strides as a footballer to be considered for a first team role. The summer went by with no takers for Abeid either on loan or on a permanent basis, so the decision was made to keep hold of him to be on the outskirts of the squad, hoping they wouldn’t have to call upon the untried youngster.
Inevitably, injuries hit, and Abeid found himself thrust into the first team set up at Newcastle for the first time of his career, and he hit the ground running, and is now considered a quintessential part of the first-team squad going forward.
Much to the annoyance of everybody involved with Newcastle, Mehdi sustained a broken toe during a training session with the Algerian national squad, which resulted in him being sidelined for a lengthy spell.
In spite of this, when available for selection this season, he has been simply brilliant. In fact, according to ‘WhoScored’, the Algerian midfielder has been Newcastle’s best player this season, with an average rating of 7.41 – the 21st highest in the league, ahead of Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling and Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria.
Whether Newcastle’s new head coach – whoever it may be – will have the same opinion as ‘WhoScored’ and the majority of those on Tyneside is obviously unclear but, if not, Abeid will strive to improve and, ultimately, prove himself to Alan Pardew’s successor.
