We have been looking at some of the news we have not reported over the weekend, and it’s good news that it now seems possible that Mo Diame will get a new deal from Rafa this summer.
Mo Diame has been a revelation this year, and he has now played 31 times with two goals, and one assist this season, and he has been a regular starter for the team since late last year.
In fact, Rafa has used two of our most experienced Premier League players – Jonjo Shelvey and Mo in the central midfield during our tremendous revival this year.
Mo Diame – in action against Arsenal
Mo’s three-year deal will run out next summer, and he deserves new contract to stay on at Newcastle for the next few years – hopefully with Rafa as the manager.
Rafa was asked in the Chronicle if he would give Mo a new deal and this is what the gaffer said:
“Players, you have to understand that they have sometimes some momentum and you have to see the whole picture.”
“It’s not just, ‘Oh, now he’s doing well and he deserves this’.”
“But he is someone who can talk English, French and he can talk Spanish, so then he can talk with a Spanish player, with a French player, with the English players.”
“And he’s very good with all of them because he’s a very good character.”
“We had a visitor the other day, Gregory Vignal, who is a former Liverpool player and he played with Diame in France. He is now working for Rangers.”
“When he saw Mo, he remembered him as a midfielder so we were talking about that and he said, ‘He has strong legs, he has the power’ and it’s true.”
“He is playing there and he is using his power to make the difference.”
“Last year when he was playing a little bit higher in the Championship, he was fine because he could score some goals and he could do well.”
“But he’s not a proper number 10.”
“In the middle when you have the power and you have Jonjo Shelvey close to you, you find the balance.”
So Rafa is not giving much away there about whether he will offer Diame a new contract but surely he deserves one?
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
7 comments so far
Jail for Ashley
May 7, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Comment #1Being told he’s getting five years in jail then the judge telling him it’s a suspended sentence. Then shouting loser in a Donald Trump voice, it’s April’s fools, it’s five years full.
Jail for Ashley
May 7, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Comment #2Is too good for Ashley!
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
May 7, 2018 at 9:33 AM
Comment #3Zzz zzz
Nufc 4ever
May 7, 2018 at 9:41 AM
Comment #4When is a club up for sale 400 million is a joke its fatmans way of saying its for sale but its not for sale. This is the man who said he would stage payments for would be buyers. We have the best manager for years but he will go i dont blame him. Best good feeling for years to be ruined by fatman like the last 11 years
Tsunki
May 7, 2018 at 9:43 AM
Comment #5It seems a mystery to many even to this day why the club runs close to the wire when posting it’s balance sheet.
It’s because revenue that other clubs utilise fully just never make it into the sporting entity. When Ashley sticks a few million “of his own money” (he profited from in other associated profitable entities) in to keep the final balance in the black it’s just a necessary adjustment.
That’s what this “wiping its own nose” is about. Ashley has no design to introduce sporting ambition to this model because that would require a huge reshuffle of incomes and a sea change in his business philosophy.
I’m beginning to think Ashley has minimal interest in moving out of this club. He does virtually nothing to maintain it, it generates steady income and his minions keep it ticking over.
Munster Mag
May 7, 2018 at 9:55 AM
Comment #6Tsunki he won’t move out until he gets more money than the club is worth. In the meantime he will just keep advertising sports direct and keep us ticking over. Rafa will stay to honour his contract and hope another buyer comes other than Staveley who clearly is a bit of a tyre kicker. Unless we get a great coach at that point we will go down and share a division with Sunderland. Hands up I was one of the ones who thought Fats would give him maybe 40 Mill because that money would be there from sky but the fans forum was ominous. ‘you don’t know how horrible we can be’ as Lambezee said. How true.
Tsunki
May 7, 2018 at 9:58 AM
Comment #7Munster it’s beginning to look that way.Ashley has a self-healing profit engine here and wants it’s perceived worth rather than its net value. If you’re a typical grasping businessman you can’t be blamed for that philosophy 😉
Not sure about Stavely being a tyre kicker though. I think maybe they found out the hard way what Ashley’s price entails.