Gael Bigirimana's Sad Decline at Newcastle Is Coventry's Gain Now
By
Russell Hughes
14 JUN 2016
Gael Bigirimana was once hailed as a Newcastle United wonder-kid, having arrived from Coventry City with a big reputation, and with the youngster initially justifying the hype.
After playing 26 times for Coventry City in the Championship across the 2012/2012 season, the Magpies won the race his signature. At the end of that campaign, Bigirimana was given the Championship Apprentice Award. Things looked bright.
They looked even better when the midfielder appeared to seamlessly adjust to life in the English top flight, with manager Alan Pardew happy to entrust the 22-year-old with enough football to aid his development.
After playing 24 times during the 2012/2013 season, with 10 games in the Europa League and 14 in the Premier League, it was beginning to seem like United had a real find on their hands. The one goal that Bigirimana did score was a cracker, too.
But then something strange happened, and despite only being injured once during his Tyneside career, the midfielder slipped off the radar completely. There were rumours of a 'mystery illness' that the club never clarified, but one thing was for sure - his fall from grace was swift and permanent.
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After making just one appearance for Newcastle during the 2013/2014 campaign against Morecambe in the Capital One Cup, Toon bosses shipped Bigirimana out on loan as part of the ill-fated 'Rangers' Five'.
That move turned out to be as ill conceived as the rest of the Mike Ashley reign, and the only player who made any sort of impact turned out to be Haris Vuckic, who struggled with Wigan Athletic this campaign - and it came out that the Burundi international was seriously ill before he was moved on to the Scottish club.
Since then, the problem that has plagued the midfielder seems to have eased, and this campaign he was sent back to Coventry City for some much needed first team football.
However, he was unable to take to the field as often as he would have liked due to rules restricting the amount of loanees a club can field at once.
Now he has the chance to return to the Ricoh Arena on a permanent deal, as reported by the
Chronicle, and nobody would begrudge him that. At 22, Bigirimana is still young enough to forge a good career for himself.
He arrived with promise, and departed as an enigma. What went wrong, and why did it go badly so quickly? Only one thing is for sure, he deserves the chance to turn it all around again.
