Seydou Doumbia’s career is a strange one.
The Ivorian striker has played in Ivory Coast, Japan, Switzerland (twice), Russia, Italy and England, and that’s all happened before his 29th birthday.
Currently on loan from AS Roma at FC Basel, the striker is enjoying life in Switzerland again, scoring seven goals in nine league appearances, but the Champions League has been a different matter.
A draw against Ludogorets and a loss to Arsenal have left Basel joint bottom of Group A, and Wednesday’s trip against Paris Saint-Germain is likely to aggravate things.
Speaking to So Foot in France, the forward explained the Swiss club are expecting ‘to suffer’ in Paris, but that’s not all he talked about.
The player also looked back at his failed spells at Roma (where he is still technically under contract) and Newcastle, which he doesn’t remember particularly fondly.
He said: “When I made my first appearance for Roma, the fans booed me. That was the case at each home game, without me knowing why. Plus, the manager didn’t really trust me. At Newcastle, the context was a bit different.
“I played very little because the new manager, Rafael Benitez, didn’t really trust me either, but there wasn’t any hostility from the fans towards me.”
The 28-year-old only made three brief appearances for Newcastle last season, all from the bench, and was left out of match day squads altogether from the 20th of March onwards.
That added up to 29 minutes of football.
Basically, a waste of £850k (the price Newcastle paid for the loan).
