Jésus Gámez confirms his departure from Newcastle United

The Newcastle United defender made a very small impact in his time with the club.

Jésus Gámez took to Twitter on Monday to announce his departure from Tyneside, confirming what most Toon fans were expecting with the Spaniard’s contract expiring in the summer.

The 33 year old fullback joined Newcastle United at the beginning of their Championship season back in 2016 with relatively high expectations. Making a total of 289 appearances for Málaga CF and 37 more for Atlético Madrid before joining the Magpies, fans were hoping Gámez could offer a veteran presence to the back four and offer competition for the club’s younger defenders.

But it just wasn’t to be for the Spaniard. Unfortunately in his first league start, a home game against Blackburn in November 2016, Gámez suffered a broken collarbone and would end the season making only five total appearances with three of them as a substitute.

Things looked more positive for him in the Premier League as he managed a full 90 minutes against Swansea in September, with an obvious lack of pace made up for with some excellent tackling and defensive contributions. He featured again for the Toon two weeks later, coming off the bench in the 83rd minute to replace Chancel Mbemba in a 1-0 loss to Brighton, but recurring injuries took their toll. Ankle, calf and back problems hampered any further chance of first team opportunities, as Gámez ended the season making a total of only two Premier League appearances for the Magpies.

Granted, whilst his disappointing total of 7 competitive matches seems to reflect poor decision making on the part of Newcastle, it hasn’t all been doom and gloom.

Newcastle have had a very young squad during Rafa Benitez’s tenure, and by all accounts, Gámez has been a fantastic addition to the Magpies’ dressing room with his face a constant feature of the players’ social media output. There’s also an undisputed value in having a player around the training ground who’s been a part of Champions League campaigns and the Spanish top-flight for countless years, and although it’s impossible to quantify, his presence was likely a contributing factor to Newcastle’s brilliant defensive record in the Premier League this season.

Where does Newcastle go from here?

Losing Gámez is hardly a devastating blow for Benitez, but Newcastle shouldn’t get complacent given the expected (but unconfirmed) departure of another fullback in the form of Massadio Haidara.

Without these two fullbacks Newcastle are down to bare bones in terms of depth, with only Javier Manquillo and the returning Achraf Lazaar offering suitable cover. The latter is also widely expected to leave the club this summer following a disappointing loan spell in Italy, where he was frozen out of a Benevento side that failed to win any of their first 14 league matches and ended the season bottom of Serie A.

Benitez has made no secret of his plans to drastically improve the squad following what was a massive overachievement in finishing 10th last season, and the departure of high earners such as Gámez is clearly only the first step in restructuring the first team. Paul Dummett and DeAndre Yedlin appear to have locked down the starting full back spots for next season, but without sufficient depth, Newcastle will be asking for trouble with the threat of injuries ever-present, and it’s a long grueling season in the top flight of English football with rotation a must.

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The club has already dabbled in this summer’s transfer market, signing loanee goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka to a permanent deal. If Mike Ashley is willing to backup Rafa Benitez’s plan to revamp the squad for next season, then expect more signings to be announced in the next few weeks following the World Cup. There are only six weeks until pre-season friendlies begin, so here’s hoping these signings come sooner rather than later.