Newcastle United fans can be forgiven for looking at Florian Thuavin’s progression with Marseille and wondering what may have been. Thauvin showed glimpses of his skill at Newcastle but was unable to put together any kind of consistency, and clearly wasn’t settled at the club.
Now much happier back at Marseille, Thauvin finds himself in Didider Deschamps’ France squad and things are certainly looking up for the 24 year old. Rafael Benitez has recently spoken about having to let Thauvin leave because he simply hadn’t settled in Newcastle or at the club.
Questioned on the Newcastle United transfer himself by French newspaper L’Equipe, Thauvin makes it sound like things were overly rushed and the situation ran away with him.
“Basically, I was to stay at Marseille, it was planned that way. The problem was the departure of Marcelo Bielsa after two days. The whole project has been questioned, my future at OM too. I made the decision to leave, it was done very quickly.”
The decision was probably taken too quickly for all involved. Newcastle saw a chance to buy a young talented footballer, Marseille saw the money, and Thauvin himself saw a chance to come and be a star in the Premier League.