Newcastle United thought they’d signed a ‘natural goalscorer’ but it all fell apart under Rafa Benitez

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Newcastle United fans would rather forget the horrendous 2015/16 season for everything that went wrong in it.

There were high hopes at the start of that campaign; the Magpies had just survived relegation and had brought in a promising crop of players during the summer window.

Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley had surprisingly splashed the cash to bring in players like Georgino Wijnaldum and cult hero Aleksandar Mitrovic. The team was good enough to finish in the top half at least.

However, the season turned out to be a horror story under Steve McClaren, who had taken over from John Carver at Newcastle after he kept them up at the end of the 2014/15 campaign on the last day.

McClaren was sacked and replaced by Rafa Benitez towards the tail end of that season, but even the Spaniard wasn’t able to save the sinking ship as Newcastle were relegated to the Championship.

Only Jamaal Lascelles remains from that team now, with most of the players who joined that season moving on almost immediately.

Amid that squad was one player who had made a name for himself due to his pace and strength, but his dream move to England turned out to be a disaster. In 2019, he revealed exactly why.

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Seydou Doumbia on why his move to Newcastle in 2016 failed

Striker Seydou Doumbia will be remembered by mainstream football fans for his time at CSKA Moscow and Serie A side Roma. However, Newcastle fans will be familiar with the Ivorian because of his incredibly brief stint on Tyneside.

Doumbia joined Newcastle on loan, having returned to Moscow at the beginning of the 2015/16 campaign. However, he would only make three appearances with the Magpies – all of them coming off the bench.

In an interview with The Chronicle in 2019, Doumbia opened up about his move to Newcastle and exactly why it went wrong.

“I was confident because looking back at the seasons before, I used to score goals,” he said.

However, when I arrived at Newcastle, I was not 100%. The transfer had been done at the end of the transfer window, like always in England.

“I heard about the interest from the club and Steve McClaren, and I instantly accepted the challenge because the Premier League is one of the best in the world.

“I was happy to sign! Even if it didn’t work very well after.”

“It was a pleasure to work with Steve every day, I got a lot of joy from it but unfortunately he left us quickly.

“As I say, I was not 100% when I arrived at Newcastle, and the fact that the coach changed very soon didn’t help me.”

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When Benitez arrived at Newcastle in the latter stages of the season, it became clear that Doumbia did not have a place in the starting XI, or the first-team squad for that matter – Benitez had completely frozen him out.

“It was a professional relationship,” Doumbia said about Benitez.

“I had no problem with him.

“When he arrived I was still on a preparation time.

“If I didn’t play it was just a question of choice and I respected it.”

“Everything was complicated. The atmosphere was negative and we felt it.

“I think that we should have won maybe two or three games in a row to change this negative atmosphere but unfortunately we didn’t make it, but the fans were amazing.

“Even if we were losing our games the stadium was always full, they were incredible.”

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What happened to Seydou Doumbia after he left Newcastle?

There were high hopes that Doumbia was going to be successful for Newcastle when he joined. McClaren said Doumbia was a ‘natural goalscorer’ upon signing him, but he never found the net in his three appearances at the club.

Doumbia was still contracted to Roma until 2018, but was sent out on loan to Basel and Sporting Lisbon before signing for Spanish side Girona for the 2018/19 campaign.

Things didn’t work out for Doumbia in Spain, with the striker only scoring twice in 17 league appearances. He then joined Swiss club Sion the next season before ending his career at Maltese outfit Hamrun Spartans.

Despite the slower end, Doumbia still enjoyed a trophy-laden career, which saw him win trophies for most clubs he joined.

Doumbia also had success for the Ivory Coast, winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015.