Mehdi Abeid joined Newcastle almost three years ago, and he came well recommended and started his Newcastle career so well in that first summer,  that he forced his way onto the American tour with players like James Perch not making the trip.

Mehdi Abeid – playing well in Greece

Mehdi is on a season long loan at Greek side Panathinaikos, after he went on loan to St. Johnston last season, and it seems the regular first team games are improving the 21 year-old, who has been getting excellent reports for his play in Greece.

While at St. Johnstone, Mehdi played 13 games, and while on loan this season he has played 22 times and scored 5 goals for Panathinaikos, who have been Greek Champions a total of 20 times, the last time being in 2010, and they were one of the founding members of the Greek Super League 55 years ago.

The Algerian has 4 caps at the U23 level (for Algeria) and played for the French U16, U17 and U18 sides before he arrived on Tyneside on a free transfer from Lens in the summer of 2011.

The Chronicle is reporting the Greek side would love to keep him on a permanent basis, but they cannot afford the transfer fee – and in fact they cannot afford a lot more important things than signing new players, such is their very poor financial state.

This is what Mehdi himself has said: about the situation

“I feel perfectly fine here. I want to continue my adventure with Panathinaikos, but as everyone knows, the decision is not mine.” “The Directors of Pana will negotiate with Newcastle to redeem my contract.”

Mehdi signed a five year deal with Newcastle when he joined us, so there is still almost two and a half years left on his contract – but if Mehdi has done so well in Greece this season, surely Newcastle will want to take a look at him in pre-season, and see how well he has progressed.

Mehdi Abeid – in Panathinaikos colors

After all Mehdi doesn’t turn 22 until August, and maybe he can still make it on Tyneside –  especially since the word on him in Greece is that his work-rate, passing and intelligent play have made him extremely popular with the fans.

But Greek clubs reflect the state of the Greek economy, and to put it bluntly – they are skint – and can hardly afford any transfer fees in these times of severe economic hardship.

But if Mehdi has done that well,  he surely deserves a chance to show what he can do for Newcastle in pre-season, and that’s especially true because his work-rate is high, and that should please manager Alan Pardew.

It will be good to see how far the 21 year-old has progressed when pre-season starts in early July – we hope he’s come on in leaps and bounds. 😀

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

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