10 Players You Didn't Know Were On Trial At Newcastle United

3. Sebastian Bassong

Whilst Sebastian Bassong's sole season at Newcastle was, despite relegation, enough to allow him to leave with the blessing of the Geordie faithful, the story of how he came to play for the Magpies started with a pre-season friendly away to Doncaster Rovers. It's a scorching hot summer's day in 2008, and Kevin Keegan's whipping his charges into shape for what looked to be a fairly promising season. Jonas Gutierrez had arrived from Mallorca, Fabricio Coloccini was on his way from Deportivo, and whilst nobody was expecting the success of his previous stint, fans were quietly confident of having something to cheer over the coming season. Lining up that afternoon was another new face, an otherwise unidentified "Number 46". The absence of any teamsheets or public address system meant that Newcastle's travelling fans were simply left to guess at who the mystery defender might be. Treating him to choruses of "46, 46 nobody knows your name" as he put in a surprisingly tidy performance in a well contested 0-1 defeat. Still contracted to French side Metz and with France Under 21 experience under his belt, Newcastle were suitably impressed to part with the £500,000 necessary to make the move permanent. Bassong departed 12 months later as Newcastle's Player of the Season, opting to continue his career in the Premier League with Tottenham rather than battle out of the Championship. See, those trials will tell you a lot about fitness and ability, but very little about devotion. Went on to: Play for Tottenham and Norwich in the Premier League before being farmed out to Championship Watford on loan. Occasionally plays for Cameroon. Not considered as good as: He thought he was.