This time last year Newcastle were fresh off the back of a stunning Capital One cup victory away to champions Manchester City and a home Premier League win over Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool. One of the stand out performers in both games was Algerian midfielder Medhi Abeid.
After a very successful loan spell at Greek side Panathinaikos, in which he scored seven times and helped his side to their first Greek cup win in five years, Newcastle welcomed Abeid back to Tyneside like a new signing. In his first Premier League start against Liverpool, Abeid picked up the man of the match award after winning his midfield battle with Steven Gerrard. From here, Abeid flourished and became a regular in Newcastle’s midfield, sitting in front of the back four alongside Jack Colback.
With Abeid and Colback holding and protecting United’s defence, United’s flair players were allowed to play with more freedom. Ayoze Perez, Moussa Sissoko and Sammy Ameobi reaped the benefits of the teams new shape. Sadly for Abeid, he suffered a broken toe whilst on international duty with Algeria. This injury kept Abeid out for weeks and, as a result, the team suffered – losing four games on the bounce.
More bad news was to follow, as then manager Alan Pardew left the club to take charge of his former side Crystal Palace. Coach John Carver was controversially brought in to see the side through until the end of the season, an appointment which didn’t quite work out as planned.
Carver never seemed to fancy Abeid and often played naturally wide players, such as Ryan Taylor and Jonas Gutierrez, in the middle of the park. As a result of this Abeid’s game time dwindled, in spite of Newcastle suffering a record eight league defeats in a row.
With Steve McClaren opting to play Gini Wijnaldum out wide or in a more advanced role, Newcastle’s central midfield options are very limited. Jack Colback’s injury against Sunderland will rule him out of action for several weeks, leaving a huge hole in the team.
Remarkably, Cheick Tiote remained a Newcastle player in the summer, with many expecting him to part company with the club. Plagued by injury last season and making the headlines for all the wrong reasons off the field, it looked as though the Ivorian’s time was up. Not getting any younger and certainly not improving as a player, the decision for him to remain in a black and white shirt ahead of Abeid is difficult to comprehend.
Aside from Tiote, Vurnon Anita is the only other natural central midfielder available for Newcastle. Anita himself has had plenty of chances to cement his first team status over the years, but it just hasn’t happened for him. Competition for places isn’t good enough in the current squad, with Anita or Tiote almost certain to play even if their performances aren’t up to standard.
With Newcastle having one of the worst defensive records in the league, a natural holding player like Abeid would have been a great option to help protect a leaky defence and provide McClaren with options in the middle of the park. Considering the minimal fee received for Abeid from Panathinaikos (around £2m), allowing him to leave looks to have been a poor choice by the management.
It is unclear why McClaren never gave Abeid an opportunity to prove his worth.
