Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has told the Evening Chronicle that he did turn down an offer for forward Yoan Gouffran.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for the 30 year old who was expected to leave St James’ Park this summer with a number of French clubs interested in bringing the player back to his homeland.
Lorient were believed to be the club who were most interested in Gouffran. The French media reported that the Ligue One side were interested in a double deal for Gouffran and his team mate Emmanuel Riviere. While Riviere eventually joined Osasuna on loan, Gouffran remained on Tyneside, and has now scored two goals so far this season, including another excellent finish last night against Wolves in the third round of the EFL Cup.
Benitez says he was happy with the Frenchman’s preseason and is glad he has been rewarded for his hard work in training with appearances on the pitch:
“I was happy with him during pre-season.I was expecting some offers for him – we had one that was not good enough and after, I was expecting maybe no-one would come and I would be happy, so that was the situation.”
“We were watching him closely and he was training really well and the staff, we were talking about it could be better to keep him, and that’s it. I am really pleased because when you have someone working so hard, he deserves some luck sometimes.”
Gouffran and Newcasttle will next face Aston Villa in the league on Saturday evening.
