Newcastle United are reportedly interested in bringing former midfielder Mehdi Abeid back to the club this summer. Abeid was at the club for four years before leaving for Panathinaikos back in 2015 where he gained vital experience in the Champions League.
Newcastle United are reportedly in the market to resign former midfielder Mehdi Abeid back to the club this summer. The Algerian was at the club for four years before leaving for Panathinaikos back in 2015 where he gained vital experience in the Champions League.
Abeid was down the pecking order while in Greece however and after one year in Athens, he headed back to France to sign for his current club French side Dijon. Although, he was deemed not good enough at Newcastle or Panathinaikos, has continued his development and is now of major interest to Premier League clubs.
Because of the financial situation on ground at Dijon, he could be available for a relatively small fee and this has made Newcastle sit up and take notice. Abeid, being young player with a lot of experience, was at Newcastle under the tutelage with Alan Pardew which did not help his development. Nevertheless, he was popular with the fans and as someone who knows the club, already, he would take no time to settle in.
Abeid has netted 3 times in 28 Ligue1 games this season which is not a bad figure for a player who plays his game in a rather deep position, though it’s especially encouraging given the fact that Dijon have struggled. He clearly has something to offer and although his overall profile is a chequered one, he may yet prove to be a solid midfielder of Premier League class.
Another way to look at this situation, especially if Abeid is not snapped up by August, is that Newcastle need reinforcements in the middle of the park. Jack Colback arguably proved barely good enough at Championship level last season while Mo Diame did not hit the heights at all. Neither of them will be considered to be the sort of player capable of dragging Newcastle up the league, thus leaving them with Jonjo Shelvey and the unproven Isaac Hayden.
So, should Newcastle not manage to put together a top class midfield with a few weeks to go until the curtain raiser (which naturally looks like happening) then they will need to, at the very least boost their midfield numbers to ensure they have a squad ready to go to war with. Mehdi Abeid, at the very least, would fit the bill in that case and may yet prove to be a very shrewd signing.