RC Lens’ Florian Thauvin was at Newcastle United between 2015 and 2017.
[So Foot](https://www.sofoot.com/) have a detailed interview with the forward in their magazine this week. He reviewed his career, including his spell at Newcastle United.
Thauvin spent two years at Marseille and left them for Newcastle United in August 2015. As a part of the deal, the Magpies allowed Rémy Cabella to move in the opposite direction on loan with an option to buy.
Newcastle United reportedly invested around £15m to secure Thauvin’s services. The money raised from his sale was crucial for the Ligue 1 side at that time.
Vincent Labrune was president of the French club at the time, and Thuavin has explained the official wanted him to make a sacrifice to help Marseille.
_“Labrune basically said: ‘If we don’t sell you, OM will collapse, sacrifice yourself, and leave’,”_ he said.
The Frenchman says the Premier League side were the only club to make a serious offer to buy him.
_“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,”_ Thauvin explained.
Not to blame for Newcastle United failure
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The attacker played 16 matches for Newcastle United, scoring a goal and contributing three assists. He then returned to Marseille on loan in January 2016.
_“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,”_ he added.
_“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 returned to Newcastle United in 2016, when they had been relegated from the top flight. Rafael Benítez was in charge of the Tyneside club and wanted him to stay.
Instead, the Frenchman returned to Marseille on another loan and his stay there was made permanent the following year.
_“I did a good part of preseason training in Newcastle, at least a month and a half with Benítez. He really wanted me to stay,”_ he said.
_“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.”_