Newcastle United: Who is Massadio Haidara? (Video)
With the club embroiled in a relegation scrap, it’s no surprise to see Newcastle United splurge in January in order to stave off the possibility of dropping into the Championship. After securing Mathieu Debuchy, Alan Pardew appears to have made it his mission to fortify the defensive ranks.
It’s certainly a problem the Magpies need to address, regardless of the departure of Demba Ba. While Newcastle can’t score at one end, conceding at the other is cataclysmically worse. With it, Pardew has looked to bolster his French contingent further, first with the aforementioned capture of Debuchy and next with the expected arrival of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa from Montpellier.
The 51-year-old hasn’t stopped there in his mission to ship half of Ligue Un to the Premiership amidst reports that Massadio Haidara is set to join from Nancy. The 20-year-old currently plays his trade at left-back and, at the time of writing, has made 20 appearances in all competitions for the French outfit.
While Pardew may have Davide Santon to play in the position already, the arrival of Haidara will only bolster his options in the backline, while giving him that important strength of depth which has been desperately lacking in recent weeks.
The young defender is unlikely to be rushed straight into first-team duties, but now the Newcastle boss has the opportunity of calling on any other defender to play at full-back that isn’t Mike Williamson.
0 comments