Newcastle United missed out on a deadline-day swoop for Hamza Choudhury and, speaking to HITC, Emile Heskey believes the Leicester City ace would have been a fine addition to Steve Bruce’s team.
Somehow, Newcastle manage to be both defensively-minded and incredibly easy to play against.
Time and again, during recent defeats to Arsenal, Aston Villa and Leeds United, Bruce’s mirage of a midfield was bisected with minimal effort, a single piercing pass taking four or five players out of the game in one fell swoop.
A high-powered chainsaw through hot butter.
With that in mind, an old-school, stick-the-boot-in scrapper would have been a welcome addition at St James’ Park.
Bruce confirmed his interest in Choudhury last week but, after Leicester failed to bring in Nathaniel Chalobah from Watford, the England U21 international was forced to stay and provide vital cover at the King Power (Northern Echo).
And he wasted no time in showing Newcastle what they were missing, producing a typically industrious display in Wilfred Ndidi’s injury-enforced absence during Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Fulham.
“For Hamza, he just wants to play football. He’s a great player, really dogged, doesn’t mind the tackle and can play simple as well. Play him with the right midfielder and it’s a match made in heaven,” says Heskey who, like Choudhury, started his career in Leicester blue.
“He can get up and down that pitch.
“And that’s what Newcastle need as well; someone who can sit in front of that back four or back five and put that graft in.”
Choudhury certainly likes a tackle; almost too much perhaps.
The 23-year-old has often found himself on the wrong side of the law, his tendency to fly into tackles meaning he is frequently walking a disciplinary tightrope.
And Heskey believes that Choudhury would benefit from improving his timing on the pitch.
“He’s old-school. Nowadays, you’ve just got to be careful. It’s not like the old days where you could win the ball and take the man.”
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