10 Newcastle Players Who Could Be Revitalised By Steve McClaren

9. Yoan Gouffran

Yoan Gouffran arrived on Tyneside in January 2013 as a winger or forward who had scored 31 league goals in 140 appearances for Bordeaux and a further 33 in 115 games for Caen. However, just 11 have arrived since for Gouffran in 78 Premier League matches - including a meagre two in 28 games during the 2014-15 campaign (plus he did contribute a solitary assist, to be fair on him...). The Frenchman has an incredible ability to offer almost nothing to a Premier League match when he plays for Newcastle. He runs around, always appearing "busy" if you actually focus on him, but then when you dissect his contribution - it almost always amounts to precisely nothing. That has been the Gouffran of the past 12 months. He isn't going to grab Newcastle a winner, and he isn't going to make a goal-saving challenge - but McClaren needs to change all of that. Newcastle's new head coach needs to either find a position in the side where Gouffran can be effective, or simply keep him out of the squad altogether. Gouffran was a favourite of both Alan Pardew and then John Carver but McClaren arrives without having worked with Gouffran before. If the French midfielder does not impress then he will likely be ostracised - so it's in Gouffran's interests to finally prove his worth to the Magpies.