Newcastle United have just concluded their fourth major signing of the summer transfer window, as Florian Thauvin joins Chancel Mbemba, Aleksander Mitrovic and Georginio Wijnaldum as major additions on the Tyneside during Steve McClaren’s first transfer window as manager. Thauvin joins from Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille, whom he has played for since 2013, and for whom he boasts 67 league appearances, as well as 13 league goals.
Thauvin began his professional career at Grenoble, a French club that is currently playing in the 4th division of French football, Le Chapionnat de France Amateur. The club ended up in the amateur league following its liquidation at the end of Thauvin’s first professional season. This led to Thauvin inking his first professional with Corsican outfit Bastia after the conclusion of the 2010-2011 season. Two productive seasons at Bastia saw Lille purchase the exciting young prospect for 3.5 million euros in January of 2013. The deal saw Thauvin loaned back to Bastia for the remainder of the season, where he scored 7 goals in 16 league appearances. After staring for the French Under 20s at the FIFA Under 20 world cup in the summer of 2013, where he helped France win while scoring 3 goals in the knockout stages, Thauvin returned to practice only once with his new Lille teammates, as he demanded a new contract before the opening of his first campaign at Lille. This led to a last-minute move to Marseille for a fee of roughly 15 million euros. He never played a game for Lille. Thauvin’s time at Marseille was certainly up and down, including last season, where he found himself in the Ligue 1 worst team of the season.
Stylistically, Thauvin has drawn comparisons to many elite French wingers, including former Newcastle star Hatem Ben Afra, as well as current Bayern Munich man Frank Ribery. He has excellent pace and can beat multiple players when he has the ball at his feet. This, however, can also be the young Frenchmen’s downfall. Like many young talented wingers, he does not always take full advantage of his ability to dribble past players, often squandering chances by lacking decisive passing and shooting in the final third. Thauvin has also demonstrated that he may have a bad attitude, with examples such as clashing with fans, as well as the aforementioned transfer saga from Lille.
In conclusion, Newcastle are bringing in an excellent young talent who has shown flashes of top-class ability, but also has had frustrating bouts of inconsistency. Although only time will tell whether this was a wise move by the Newcastle hierarchy, one thing is clear with this transfer. It is the biggest high risk, high reward signing of the Mike Ashley era, which is a positive sign of the ambition of the club.
