The Newcastle fans in the Transfer Tavern have been reacting to a story from Laola1 (via The Chronicle) that their club sent a scout to watch the Rb Salzburg vs Marseille game last night in the Europa League semi-finals. There are no reports over who the club is said to be monitoring, although it’s not the first time the Magpies have sent a scout to watch Marseille this season.
Newcastle United will tonight send a scout to the game between RB Salzburg and Marseille. There have been no reports who #NUFC will be monitoring tonight, but this isn’t the first time they’ve scouted Marseille this season. [Laola1]
— NUFC 360 (@NUFC360) May 3, 2018
The Geordies propping our bar up have all been making the same jokes as they read the news of Newcastle watching Marseille. The fans have jibbed that the club went to watch Florian Thauvin, the ex-Newcastle winger who suffered a torrid time at St James Park after signing from Marseille in summer 2015. The winger signed for the club for a reasonable fee given the Magpies budget and lasted just six months before being loaned back to Marseille in January. The winger then spent all of the 2016/17 season at Marseille again on-loan before rejoining permanently in summer.
The fans agreed that it was best to cut their losses on Thauvin, although with the club scouting Les Olympiens, they could be looking to bring a different Frenchman into the fold. Marseille provided West ham with Dimitri Payet ahead of the 2015/16 Premier League season and he turned out to be a gem in the Hammers side before he returned to Marseille, which will give our local Geordies hope that they can still have success despite their bad memories from the Florian Thauvin saga.
You can read our local Geordies’ verdict on their scouting of Marseille here:
Thay thauvin lad looks decent
— Alfie Younger (@alfie_younger) 3 May 2018
We've entered the "monitoring" stage of our transfer activity.
Hold on, we'll be here a while.
— Dell
They are checking to see if it was definitely the Thauvin we bought
— Nufc (@nufclaad) May 3, 2018
Could be Zambo Anguissa – Marseille's central midfielder. Read that we were tracking him a few months ago.
— Black&WhiteBarmy (@BlackWhiteBarmy) May 3, 2018
Was there a buy back clause in the thauvin deal?
— rhys dawson (@rhysdawson11) May 3, 2018
There’s a French winger plays for them… Florian Thauvin… Should really have a look at him has the potential to be a baller #NUFC
— Dan (@DZ1892) 3 May 2018
No matter what anyone says about Thauvin or how well he performs, to me he'll always be the guy who took 90 seconds to tie his boot.
— Barry Blakely (@BarryBlakely) May 3, 2018
Florian Thauvin’s league goalscoring tally by season in Europe’s top five leagues:
2012/13: 10 goals
2013/14: 8 goals
2014/15: 5 goals
2015/16: 2 goals
2016/17: 15 goals
2017/18: 20 goalsPeak of his powers.
— David Paterson (@onet18975) 3 May 2018
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