Bruce mistreated Colback, August decision was unfair

Newcastle vs Chelsea player ratings
Newcastle vs Chelsea player ratings

After opting to stay at Newcastle this summer, Jack Colback was left out of the Magpies’ Premier League squad by Steve Bruce and hasn’t played a single minute of football this season as a result.

The decision to leave Colback out seems unfair considering Florian Lejeune & Dwight Gayle have been injured all season and only recently returned to training. Ciaran Clark hasn’t played a minute of league football either and is fourth-choice at centre-back.

Bruce even named three right-backs in his squad (Javier Manquillo, Emil Krafth, DeAndre Yedlin) rather than include Colback, so it’s hard to see the 29-year-old staying at St James’ Park unless there’s a change in manager.

Colback finds himself behind Jonjo Shelvey, Sean Longstaff, Ki Sung-yeung and Isaac Hayden in the pecking order, but Hayden has been the only constant in the side. He’s since been banned for three games after being sent off against Leicester, however, so Bruce loses an important ball-winner.

With the Englishman’s last Newcastle appearance coming against Barnsley on May 7, 2017, it’s hard to see Colback having much of a future in the North-East. He shouldn’t be short of suitors in January, but it remains to be seen which club he could join.

Stats from Transfermarkt.

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