Newcastle should take warning of Sunderland's Didier Ndong saga as they eye winger Garry Rodrigues

Sunderland ended up cancelling the contract of Gabon midfielder Didier Ndong in September – almost four months after the player refused to return to pre-season training.

But Rodrigues – reputedly a New Year target for Rafa Benitez as Newcastle look for a winger – also went AWOL from training to force his departure from Spanish club Elche in 2015.

The Cape Verde international was linked with United in the summer, and has now reportedly been transfer listed by Galatasaray.

But while that has apparently alerted Newcastle, the manner of Rodrigues’ exit from Elche might come as a concern to the Magpies.

Having played 42 games and scored three goals – including the spectacular winner in a 1-0 win over Malaga which guaranteed their La Liga survival in 2013-14 – Rodrigues refused to train after complaining about “breaches of payments” and demanding his contract be terminated.

He was not the only player to rescind his contract with Elche, with midfielder Pedro Mosquera, David Lomban and striker Jonathas de Jesus also abandoning the club.

Despite him having had three years left to run on his Elche contract, Rodrigues’ successful walk-out saw him land a move to PAOK in Greece.

He went on to spend two years at PAOK, scoring nine goals in 38 appearances before joining Galatasaray for €3.7million.