Mo Diame made 29 Premier League appearances for Rafa Benitez last season but Newcastle United refused to hand him a two-year contract.
Steve Bruce has been left to rue Newcastle United’s decision to let Mo Diame leave St James’ Park before he took over from Rafa Benitez in July, while speaking to the Shields Gazette.
The Senegal international is a player Bruce knows well. Diame enjoyed arguably the best years of his career under the Geordie gaffer at Hull City, famously firing The Tigers into the Premier League with a long-range wondergoal in the 2016 play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley.
Unfortunately for Bruce, however, Diame was long gone by the time he was unveiled by Newcastle in the summer. Despite playing 29 Premier League games for the Magpies in 2018/19, the North East giants decided against offering the veteran midfielder a new deal and he was forced to swap Tyneside for Qatar.
Diame’s experience and composure on the ball certainly could have come in handy as a ragged Newcastle side were battered 5-0 at Leicester City on Sunday and, speaking after the game, the much-maligned Bruce has admitted that he would have fought tooth and nail to keep the 32-year-old in black and white.
“I enjoyed working with Mo Diame,” Bruce said. “He was excellent for me and I believe he was excellent here. A very, very good player.
“But it was done and dusted before I came here. Certainly had I been here I would have tried to keep him. He’s a good player.”
According to the Gazette, Diame wanted a two-year deal at the end of last season but Newcastle were never going to bow down to his demands.
Owner Mike Ashley is famously reluctant to tie down players that he cannot make a substantial profit on (just as Salomon Rondon).
Yet, as Newcastle fans have been at pains to point out for over a decade, running a football club from a business perspective isn’t necessarily the brightest of ideas.
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