10 Strangest Ever Newcastle United Signings
2. Fumaca
Via the long-winded and less than glamorous route of Catuense, Colchester United, Barnsley and Crystal Palace José Rodriguez Alves Antunes - aka Fumaca - touched down at Newcastle in the summer of 1999. Honestly, we wish he'd just on driving.
Touted as the 'world's best non-capped Brazilian' he followed Mick Wadsworth to St James' Park from Palace but it soon became painfully clear that we'd signed the only Samba boy that couldn't actually play football. The man from Belem couldn't pass, couldn't tackle and he certainly couldn't control the ball with every second touch being a tackle as he demonstrated in his five Premier League appearances for the club.
There isn't much to say about Fumaca aside from he is as feckless a footballer to have pulled on a black and white shirt with supporters ending up dubbing him "Formica". Andrew Nagy, writing for the Sabotage Times, summed it up best when remarking on Fumaca's career post-Newcastle: "As a result hed been on more trials than a serial killer; which was fitting as it was absolute murder to watch him turn out in black and white."