Malick Thiaw: How Newcastle defender became ‘mentality monster’

No wonder Newcastle had been tracking Thiaw’s progress at Milan for some time.

There was a belief within the club that it would be difficult to find another defender with a similar profile for such a price, particularly one as imposing, athletic and comfortable on the ball.

Thiaw, crucially, was also keen on the move.

He had a productive chat with Howe and was understood to have viewed Newcastle as a “match” for his ambitions.

He was “proud” of Newcastle’s interest after personally doing his homework on the club and the Premier League.

In fact, Paul Winsper, a high performance consultant who previously worked for Newcastle, says he was even able to “sell the North East a little bit” to Thiaw during a training camp in the Lake District a few weeks beforehand.

Winsper, who has also worked with heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, England rugby union captain Maro Itoje and Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger, always backed the 24-year-old to “relish” life at St James’ Park.

“I’m not saying AC Milan are not a big club – they are – but it’s a different atmosphere at Newcastle and he has the character,” Winsper said.

“His mentality reminds me a lot of Toni Rudiger. When you get him under pressure, he is going to thrive.”

Thiaw certainly had to thrive after Fabian Schar suffered a concussion last month.

Only captain Bruno Guimaraes (167) has made more appearances for Newcastle than Schar (162) under Howe.

Schar has been such an ever-present at right-sided centre-back that Thiaw initially had to be patient to get his chance after arriving a few days before the season started.

But Thiaw used that time on the bench to study games – witnessing the “bite” and speed of the Premier League first hand, in the words of Howe – and he impressed staff with his performances in training.

So when the time came to make his full debut, against Bournemouth, Thiaw was primed to take his chance.

Such have been his displays since then, the 6ft 4in Thiaw has kept hold of the shirt.

That will not have come as a surprise to close friend Erdem Canpolat, who rose through the ranks with Thiaw at Schalke.

“Malick never shies away from a challenge and always wants to lead from the front – a true mentality monster,” he said.