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Report: Journalist backs Newcastle United to turn down chance to sign €10m man this summer

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Image for Report: Journalist backs Newcastle United to turn down chance to sign €10m man this summer

The Shields Gazette’s Liam Kennedy has backed Newcastle United to turn down the chance of signing FC Schalke 04 midfielder Nabil Bentaleb this summer.

Bentaleb moved to St. James’ Park on a half-season deal in the winter market to become head coach Steve Bruce’s first signing of the month, and has amassed six outings in all competitions for the club.

Bruce has called on the Algerian to start each of his appearances to date, though favoured against awarding the 35-cap international any minutes in our two most recent Premier League games against Burnley and Southampton.

Kennedy was far from a fan of what he saw from Bentaleb when the 25-year-old did feature, and would now tip the former Tottenham man to face an uncertain long-term future on Tyneside despite the club holding a €10million (£9.2m) option to buy.

“Bentaleb has added very little to the Magpies’ midfield,” Kennedy noted. “In fact, there’s an argument to say he’s made it worse.

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“He looked like a player who had not kicked a ball for a year when he turned up, and has done little to show any significant sign of improvement.

“By no means am I not saying there is not a good player in there, but Newcastle did not see it. All they saw was someone who gifted the ball to the opposition on far too many occasions and sat so deep he may as well have been in the back three/four.”

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Bentaleb lost possession seven times against Norwich as he made his first Premier League appearance since January 23, 2016, while failing to register a shot to his five interceptions, two clearances and one successful tackle, per Sofa Score data.

The Schalke loanee then lost possession 10 times against Oxford United in the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, while winning four tackles, blocking one shot and being dribbled past twice while failing to fashion a shot of his own and playing one key ball from 60 accurate passes (85%).

Bentaleb would go on and lose possession eight times against Arsenal and seven times during February’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, where he spent most of his time hugging the halfway line.

Bruce opted to bench Bentaleb after the Selhurst Park affair and we were able to draw with Burnley and beat Southampton, and question marks would have been growing over the Algerian’s future had the boss continued without him if the coronavirus pandemic did not postpone our next run of fixtures.

In other Newcastle United news, a three-time league winner turned down the club last year during our search of a key replacement.

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