Former Newcastle United star Yohan Cabaye says he felt ‘betrayed’ by the club over his exit in 2014.
Cabaye was part of one of the Magpies’ best eras in recent years, impressing during a three-year spell with the club, working under Alan Pardew.
During his time at St James’ Park, Cabaye was admired by supporters for his talent, but his eventual exit to PSG in 2014 did get a little messy.
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After Newcastle rejected an offer from PSG, Cabaye told the club he didn’t want to play, but in an interview with the Chronicle, he has revealed how he did that on the back of being ‘betrayed” having been told that if he did his job well, the club would evaluate serious offers.
He said: “When I signed for Newcastle the word from them was ‘You play for us, if you’re doing well and you have the opportunity to go somewhere else we will sit around the table and talk’. I said ‘OK.
“But the thing is when someone put in a bid for me, they just said ‘No’. I was feeling betrayed by them so that’s why I said ‘Come on, I have given my best every day and have respected the club but the respect is not there for me’. That’s why I was upset.
“Looking back now, I know that saying ‘I don’t want to play’ is not good behaviour. If I could go back in time and change it, I wouldn’t do it again. But everyone has to understand that for me, your word should be your word.
“For me it was a lie they had told me, a lie. I was betrayed and that’s the only way I could think to show them that I wasn’t happy about it.”
Cabaye spent just a year at PSG before going on to play for Crystal Palace and Saint-Etienne.
It was after a spell with the latter of those two clubs where he hung up his boots, calling it a day in February of this year, at the age of 35.
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