Newcastle United-focused journalist Lee Ryder caught the attention of a lot of Magpies supporters recently after he posted a tweet that included a link to an article from Chronicle Live which shares praise for ex-Toon defender Chancel Mbemba, who they claim has enjoyed “the form of his life” this season with Porto.
This article states that Mbemba became a “fan favourite” during his time at St. James’ Park, however, the article goes on to explain that the Democratic Republic of the Congo international failed to “hit it off” with Rafael Benitez when the Spaniard became Newcastle manager, resulting in the defender’s departure from Newcastle United.
According to Transfermarkt, Mbemba has made a total of 39 appearances for Porto since joining the Portuguese side in July 2018, with 33 of those appearances coming during the 2019/20 campaign and Chronicle Live claim that his performances for Porto this term have caught the attention of Premier League scouts who “were flocking to Porto to watch Mbemba and his team-mates” prior to the current viral outbreak.
Chancel Mbemba has proved to be one of the stars of Europe this term with Porto https://t.co/8aD4VHbW2m #nufc
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) June 8, 2020
Plenty of Toon fans have flocked to Ryder’s tweet sharing this report on Mbemba. Some of the Newcastle supporters who have been replying to this post have shared that they believe that the 25-year-old defender should never have been sold by the Magpies, with one Toon supporter declaring that the decision to sell Mbemba was “criminal”.
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Criminal that we let him go.
— Mark Doyle (@Doyler88kek) June 8, 2020
Should have never of been sold, very good defender and could play across the back four pic.twitter.com/3GMOmCEoks
— ollie (@holst24) June 8, 2020
Did Newcastle United make a mistake by selling Chancel Mbemba?YES, DEFINITELY
NO, I DON'T THINK SO
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Should never have been sold, he was our best defender.
— Steve Watson (@steviewatson01) June 8, 2020
Always looked promising in my opinion, didn’t really get a chance. I expect the same to happen with Yanga-Mbiwa tbh ?
— bigrobnufc (@bigrobnufc) June 8, 2020
Some Toon fans took the opportunity to criticise ex-Newcastle manager Benitez in response to this post.
Well rafa wanted his boys in instead ya no like manquillo n joselu.. Gave lads away like mbabu.. Yet people still want rafa back ?????
— YoungY (@myoung23) June 8, 2020
Another Benetiz master stroke by letting him go.
— stevenufc (@stevenufc3) June 8, 2020
However, one Newcastle fan was more critical of Mbemba and his time at St. James’ Park, defending the Magpies’ decision to sell the defender.
Stars of Europe is greatly stretching it..he’s struggled to maintain a starting place at Porto. Lots saying Rafa shouldn’t have let him go but is he better than Jamaal? No. Is he better than Schar? No. Is better than Florian or Fed? Not so sure.
— CC (@JamesHunt07) June 8, 2020
Considering that Mbemba is said to have been a “fan favourite” during his time at Newcastle, it may not come as a surprise that plenty of Toon fans appear to have disagreed with their club’s decision to sell the defender.