I made a huge mistake joining Newcastle United - Alan Shearer slated me live on TV
Florian Thauvin has opened up on his failed spell at Newcastle United.
Newcastle United flop Florian Thauvin has admitted it was a mistake to join the club.
Thauvin joined from Marseille for a reported £15million in August 2015. As part of the agreement, fellow Frenchman Remy Cabella moved in the opposite direction.
Long tracked by former chief scout Graham Carr, the capture of Thauvin was regarded as a huge coup. But incredibly, he lasted just four months on Tyneside before making a swift return to the South of France.
Florian Thauvin slammed by Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer
A goal and three assists on his St James’ Park debut against Northampton Town in the League Cup proved to be a false dawn. Instead, Thauvin is remembered for being slated by club legend Alan Shearer for turning up to home games in a tuxedo.
“He turns up in a tux!” Shearer said on the Match of the Day after watching Newcastle lose 2-1 against Watford. “This is a serious business we’re in here. It was funny on the first day of the season; it’s not funny anymore.”
Thauvin was loaned back to Marseille in January 2016 and Newcastle went on to be relegated from the Premier League, despite the appointment of Rafa Benitez with eight matches to go.
Benitez stayed as manager and the Magpies bounced straight back to England’s top-flight. Ahead of their Championship title-winning campaign, the Spaniard attempted to keep Thauvin, the player claims, but he was again loaned to Marseille.
The loan was soon made permanent and left United with just 16 appearances to his name.
Florian Thauvin opens up on Newcastle United transfer ‘mistake’
Reflecting on his failed spell in England, Thauvin told So Foot: “[Vincent] Labrune (president of Marseille at the time) basically said: ‘If we don’t sell you, OM will collapse, sacrifice yourself, and leave’.
“Well, at that point, the only offer with a sum that could help the club was Newcastle’s. So, there you have it, and it was a mistake. It’s easy to say that in hindsight, but that’s not how you build a career, actually.
“Often, the blame is placed on the player. ‘Yeah, but look, he didn’t do anything at Newcastle, it went badly’. Yes, but you have to see the circumstances, how it happened.
“It’s not just about adapting to a league, to a style of football. It’s about how the team plays, it has nothing to do with my abilities. They sometimes played me as a number nine.”
Thauvin added: “I did a good part of pre-season training in Newcastle, at least a month and a half with Benitez. He really wanted me to stay.
“At that point, I had the option of either joining Marcelo Bielsa at Lazio or signing with Marseille. Marcelo Bielsa kept telling me, ‘as long as you don’t go, I’m not going’. And I told him, ‘But coach, as long as you’re not there, well, I’m not going’.”
“And in the end, since he wasn’t going, and neither was I. He never made it to Rome. And I went back to Marseille.”
Florian Thauvin’s career since leaving Newcastle United
During the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, Thauvin twice hit double figures for goals and assists, which earned him a call-up to France’s 2018 World Cup-winning squad. He managed 16 goals in the following campaign before an injury forced him to miss the entire 2020/21 season.
Thauvin scored eight times in his final year for Marseille before joining Mexican side Tigres UANL on a free transfer 2021. The winger spent two years there and another two years in Italy with Udinese before returning to France in the summer to join RC Lens.