Will Newcastle’s WORST Frenchman ever cut the mustard?

During the summer transfer window Newcastle United midfielder Romain Amalfitano was sent on a season-long loan to Dijon FCO in Ligue 2, but will Newcastle’s worst Frenchman ever cut the mustard at St James’ Park?

There is no shortage of Frenchmen on Tyneside at the moment, with the current recruitment policy seemingly being that if they’re not French, we’re not signing them.

I counted 12 senior players in all, with Amalfitano being behind, in no particular order, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran, Sylvain Marveaux, Loic Remy, Moussa Sissoko, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara, Mehdi Abeid (who’s currently out on loan) and Gabriel Obertan.

Yes, I ranked Amalfitano 12 out of 12, even behind Obertan, which is really saying something and doesn’t exactly paint Romain in a good light.

Amalfitano joined from Rennes last summer and has only featured in Europa League matches a few times, so we haven’t really seen much of him.

But in those matches he made no impact at all and manager Alan Pardew didn’t come close to considering him for a Premier League starting eleven.

At 24 years of age, he can’t really be considered a youngster any more, which makes Newcastle’s decision 12 months ago to sign him look very strange indeed.

I hope for West Brom’s sake that his older brother Morgan has a bit more about him, as the Baggies have picked up the older Amalfitano on loan.

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