According to latest reports, Newcastle United have triggered the £4.5m release clause of Hull City midfielder Mo Diame. This comes on the back of the blow of Steve Bruce quitting the club leaving the players disillusioned and fidgety on the direction the club was heading. While Hull have secured promotion at the first time of asking, they face a daunting task ahead of them with the heavyweights and the newly improved mid-table clubs lying in wait for them.
On the other hand, though Newcastle United have suffered the ignominy of relegation which is pretty damaging for a club of their stature they seem to have accepted the fact and have immediately got to work restructuring their squad. The biggest win from last season would have been their successful retention of Rafa Benitez as their manager as he has shown on various occasions this summer, his ability to lure players from the Premier League to work with him.
But it hasn’t been all hunky-dory at Tyneside with several of their star players agitating for a move away from the club and majority of them have been overseas players who have been unable to cope with the prospect of slogging it out in the marathon Sky Bet Championship. While Newcastle have steadily lost their important players, Rafa has identified a core British players as the way to go in the second tier of the English league. Having signed players such as Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie, Issac Hayden and Grant Hanley, he has turned his attention to midfield powerhouse Mo Diame.
ABOUT THE PLAYER
Diamé was born in the Paris suburb of Créteil and he was selected to attend the Clairefontaine academy between 2000 and 2003. Diamé began his professional career in 2003 with RC Lens, but left four years later after facing health problems. After a full recovery, he signed for lowly Spanish side CD Linares in 2007, and moved to Rayo Vallecano the following year, helping the Madrid-based team to a mid-table position in the Segunda División, after being promoted in the 2007–08 season. He moved to Wigan in 2009 and has since plied his trade in England.
He is being seen as an important part of Newcastle United’s strategy irrespective of the outcome of Moussa Sissoko’s transfer saga. Diame has invaluable experience in English football having starred for Wigan Athletic, West Ham and the Tigers after moving to the Premier League from Rayo Vallecano in 2009.
Hull fans will remember him for scoring the goal which won them promotion and Newcastle will hope he does something similar at their club having played a huge part in the Tiger’s midfield scoring 9 goals last season. His relentless energy and drive from midfield will be key for Newcastle and they need reinforcements after apparently having decided to let Tiote leave as well.
The 29-year old will welcome the opportunity to work with Rafa Benitez but Newcastle have to convince him in their project pretty well to succeed in luring the player back into the Championship again.
