Mo Diame reportedly wants to leave Newcastle United and team up with Steve Bruce again at Aston Villa.
Steve Bruce knows just how good Mo Diame can be on his day. The problem, however, is that those ‘days’ don’t come around as often as supporters would like.
As Newcastle United fans will tell you, Diame is a hugely frustrating figure who, like Moussa Sissoko, has the ability to produce far more than he does on the football pitch.
In Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to Watford, a result which bore a startling resemblance to the team’s collapse under Steve McClaren prior to their 2016 relegation, Diame delivered a truly woeful performance in the centre of the park that had Newcastle supporters venting their frustration on social media.
Bruce, then, should perhaps overlook Diame’s stunning goal in the 2016 play-off final for Hull against Sheffield Wednesday and instead hark back to the countless underwhelming displays the 30-year-old produced in amber and black.
The Mirror (page 47, 13th November) claims that Diame is open to the idea of working with Bruce again, putting a January move to Aston Villa on the table.
But while Diame has proved that he has the raw ability to win games on his own at Championship level, it is difficult to see how the Senegalese powerhouse would improve a Villa side based on his most recent performances in a Newcastle shirt.
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