OPINION
It’s not very often that a player manages to makes his full international debut before he has even made a senior appearance for his club, but that is exactly what Newcastle United youngster Mo Sangare did this week.
The 20-year-old made his first two appearances for Liberia, losing to both DR Congo and Ivory Coast.
And while those results mean that Liberia won’t be going to the African Cup of Nations in the summer, on a personal level, the central midfielder must have been absolutely made up.
He will now return to Tyneside to continue his development with the U23s, for who he has played 17 times in all competitions so far this season, but Rafa Benitez must be thinking that the youngster is worth a first team gamble in the near future.
The Magpies are in a strange place with regards to their engine room at the moment.
On the face of it, they have an unexpected embarrassment of riches, with Jonjo Shelvey, Mo Diame, Ki Sung-yeung, Isaac Hayden, and Sean Longstaff all vying for contention, but the reality is somewhat different.
Obviously, Longstaff is out for the rest of the season, but even aside from the local lad, the Toon Army could be facing something of an exodus.
Isaac Hayden has made it patently clear that he wants to move further south, Mo Diame is embroiled in a precarious contract situation that could see him depart in the summer, and talk of Jonjo Shelvey going to West Ham, as reported by the Chronicle, just refuses to go away.
That could leave a bit of a gap in midfield areas, and Sangare must fancy his chances of making a decent impression on the manager.
