Newcastle addition has a model to follow
So, last weekend Newcastle signed their third player of the summer and surprise, surprise, it’s another Frenchman. It’s not just any Frenchman, though, it’s former Rennes midfielder Sylvain Marveaux. To make the signing even sweeter, Newcastle got Marveaux from under the noses of Liverpool, and aren’t paying top dollar either. So, with the French Newcastle revolution well and truly on, what do we need to know about Sylvain Marveaux?
I don’t want to oversimplify things and no two footballers are ever the same, but you can’t talk about Marveaux without mentioning Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda. Other than them both being French, left-footed midfielders, even Marveaux himself admits there’s some similarities. The 25-year-old said “In France they say I am like Florent Malouda, which is what I hope to do for Newcastle. He is a great player and if I could emulate him I would be happy.” Not only would Marveaux be happy, the Toon Army would be happy, too!
Malouda signed for Chelsea in 2007 and, after a couple of decent seasons, really came into his own in the Premier League. He is an instrumental part in Chelsea’s 2009/10 Premier League winning side and despite going off the boil somewhat last season, is still a top player. He of course cost Chelsea upwards of £13 million and was a couple of years older than Marveaux when he came to England, but there are plenty of similarities.
Anyway, enough about Malouda, lets concentrate on Marveaux. After a decade at Rennes, no-one is expecting the transition to the Premier League to be a completely smooth one. He will take time to settle in, but with a couple of Frenchmen around him, hopefully that settling in period won’t last too long. He also has to recover from a long-standing groin injury on which he had surgery last year, so hopefully him making an impact on Tyneside won’t be delayed by a lack of fitness.
Sylvain Marveaux doesn’t go into too much detail about his game, but says “I think my game is about working hard and scoring goals. I will do my best for the club and for the team and I look forward to making this move a success.” That’s all you can ask from him and if he can match up to any of Newcastle’s former French left wingers, including David Ginola, Laurent Robert and Charles N’Zogbia, he’d have done pretty well. Liverpool fans might be saying they never wanted him, but if he’d have gone to Anfield they’d have been raving about him, so let’s do the same!
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