Newcastle United have confirmed that defender Chancel Mbemba has completed a permanent move to Porto.
The Congolese centre-back has joined the Portuguese side on a four-year contract, as revealed on Porto’s official website, while the Magpies announced the departure of the 23-year-old via their official Twitter account.
Chancel Mbemba has completed a permanent move to @FCPorto. Good luck, @mbemba22!
?? https://t.co/1xF4A84OMd #NUFC pic.twitter.com/Y9iJUHXH4R
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) July 23, 2018
The defender made 59 appearances over three years for Rafael Benitez’s side, scoring a single goal, having joined from Anderlecht in 2015 as Alenksandar Mitrovic also made a move from the Belgian side that summer.
OPINION
This is a really interesting one. He was very highly rated when he arrived at St. James Park three years ago and performed very well in most of his Newcastle career. He has got all the attributes to be a top defender, pace, strength, massive leap, good tackling ability and is composed on the ball. However, he was prone to lapses in concentration and making errors when defending can result in conceding more chances and ultimately, conceding more goals. With the type of coach that the Toon boss Rafael Benitez is, he values consistency and concentration above all else, and being compact and solid is very important to him and his style of play. It became obvious towards the end of last season that Mbemba would never be able to fit the mould of defender that Benitez needs, even if he is a good player who can develop further, which is why he had to go.