Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has spoken out about Mohamed Diame’s contract status and extension clause by insisting he will start the midfielder if he needs to.
The Senegalese central star has been in and out of the starting XI at St James’ Park this season but with a contract extension term which will see his deal extended by a year with two more starts, there are doubts over his future, with the midfielder wanting a longer deal to remain on Tyneside.
Diame revealed his contract dispute with the club behind the scenes, telling the Chronicle: “When we were talking about my contract, I asked for two years, and they don’t want that,” and Benitez has broken his silence on the issue by insisting there is nothing stopping him using the midfielder.
He told the Chronicle: “It has not been an issue. You can see if I need to use him, I can use him.
“I will not be too worried about that. We need to be sure we put on the pitch players that can win, that is it.”
Opinion
Benitez has one thing and one thing only on his mind at St James’ Park – the good of the team. He only wants to put out a side who are going to give him and his side the best chance of securing victory and if that means Diame’s involvement from the start than that is what is going to happen. He knows that the player wants to stay at Newcastle for longer than just the year that will happen if he does start two more league games but the decision over his contract falls to those in the boardroom and it seems as though they are not willing to meet his demands. Benitez is not allowing himself to get involved in the politics but if he wants Diame to stay too then surely he should be backing his player to get a longer deal. At the end of the day he is the man who knows what he wants and needs out on the football pitch.