This one is with the benefit of hindsight certainly - as with most if not all of these entries - but Louis Saha's first experience in England was not with Fulham or Manchester United, it was in fact with Newcastle. Having arrived on loan from Metz midway through the 1998-99 campaign, the French forward managed just two goals in 12 games. With the Magpies deciding not to take up the option to sign Saha, he returned to Metz and then moved to Fulham a year later - where he bagged 63 goals in 142 games. Such form convinced Man Utd to take him to Old Trafford, and 42 goals in 124 appearances there proved his class. Saha also had successful spells at Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, before unhappy moves to Sunderland and Lazio, but Newcastle missed out on having a top Premier League striker. True Saha was raw when he first arrived at Newcastle and came up through the divisions with Fulham, but it could have been on Tyneside that his powers were nurtured and allowed to blossom, and not in west London.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
