While it’s already been established that Henri Saivet will be returning to Newcastle United at the end of the season, his future beyond that remains a mystery.
With four years left on his contract at St James’ Park, you might expect Rafael Benitez to give him a test run in early preseason in case he manages to prove himself, yet that seems very unlikely.
The reason behind this is how bad Henri Saivet’s season out on loan has been, encapsulated by his performance on Sunday night against Paris Saint-Germain as the soon-to-be ex-Ligue 1 champions ran away 5-0 winners away from home.
The 26-year-old earned himself a rather abject 3/10 in L’Equipe, with the French newspaper saying his only redeeming quality in the game was ‘trying to make things happen’, even if he never actually managed it.
Despite making ‘bad decisions that wasted several interesting opportunities’, Saivet surprisingly wasn’t the worst player on the pitch, with that award going to the club’s captain Loïc Perrin.
Making 33 appearances this season on loan from Newcastle, Saivet, often playing as an attacking midfielder, has scored one goal and provided three assists.
Such a poor return isn’t exactly going to convince Newcastle staff and fans he might one day live up to the £5m spent on him in January 2016.
