OPINION
Rafa Benitez has to axe Newcastle United midfielder Mohamed Diame as soon as possible after the player had a nightmare against Brighton on Saturday.
The 31-year-old has played every single minute of the Magpies’ league campaign so far despite struggling in pretty much all of his outings.
Diame, who has a very lucrative £45,000-a-week contract (Source: Spotrac), has been a constant liability in the heart of the Magpies’ midfield and it’s hard to see how his side are going to be able to achieve a positive result with him in the team.
The Magpies are yet to register a win across any competition and in order for that to change the veteran midfielder needs to be axed as soon as possible, if Benitez wants to see an improvement in his side.
The midfielder’s display during the 1-0 defeat to Brighton was arguably his worst yet as he seemed to be living his worst nightmare.
Diame looked lost, clumsy when on the ball, sloppy in possession and unable to make his attempts to win the ball back for his side matter.
Given that the Magpies dominated possession and could have won on Saturday with a lethal finisher to call upon, it just highlights how bad Diame was in order to submit such a terrible performance.
If the midfielder had previously excelled in his others appearances this season, then perhaps it would be wise for Benitez to stick with him, but that isn’t the case.
As Benitez apparently has doubts about Diame’s ideal replacement Ki Sung-Yeung’s mobility, these were reported by Chris Waugh in the Chronicle’s Live Blog [October 17 01:54pm] that leaves him with only Issac Hayden and Sean Longstaff as candidates to replace Diame.
Longstaff has never played in the Premier League while Hayden proved himself to be unreliable after a gutless display against Arsenal earlier in the campaign.
Despite this, it would be better for Benitez to either ignore his concern about Ki or gamble on Longstaff succeeding as it’s clear that Diame is letting his side down.
Therefore Benitez must wield his axe on the Newcastle star as soon as possible, as after nightmare display against the Seagulls, enough is enough.
