Florian Thauvin delivers brutal verdict on his move to Newcastle

Florian Thauvin has opened up about his ill-fated move to Newcastle United.
Florian Thauvin.Florian Thauvin.
Florian Thauvin.

Thauvin joined the club in a £15million deal from Olympique Marseille in the summer of 2015.

However, the winger never settled on Tyneside – on or off the pitch – and he returned to Marseille on loan the following January.

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Thauvin also spent the following season on loan at the Stade Velodrome before re-joining the club on a permanent deal.

The 25-year-old – who has starred for the Ligue 1 club since returning to France – says it was a "bad decision" to join Newcastle, then managed by Steve McClaren, in the first place.

Speaking to Onze Mondial, Thauvin said: "I made some bad decisions. I can tell you, today, I have a good entourage, and it’s a lot easier for me to feel good.

"It’s all a lot simpler. I made the wrong choices in the past, no one was there to help me at that time, and that’s why I got it wrong.

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“Maybe if I’d stayed longer, I could have won a spot in the team, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I told myself I wasn’t playing and I wanted to leave – to go back to Marseille.

“Over there, I thought my career was f*****. I came home in the evening and told my girlfriend that this was it – it was over.

"I wasn’t playing at Newcastle. I ended up at this club lost, no one talked to me. My phone never rang. I had my family and my girlfriend.

“That’s when I decided to grab the bull by the horns and said ‘I’m going back to Marseille and I’ll make a name for myself'. And that’s what happened."