Newcastle: 10 Best Foreign Signings In The Premier League Era
2. David Ginola
Costing just £2.5 million when he arrived to much intrigue from Paris Saint Germain in the summer of 1995, Ginola provided countless individual moment of brilliance that was worth the entrance fee alone in the two seasons he spent in black and white. Capturing the imagination of the Toon came as second nature to the dazzling French international as he effortlessly weaved paths through a hoard of hypnotised Premier League full backs down the left flank. When opponents finally reached the end of their tether they resorted to kicking lumps out of Ginola just to stop him supporters chanted He is class and you know he is. One popular story came after a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, a game in which he'd scored the opening goal and decided to celebrate by lighting up a cigarette on the team bus to the astonishment of his team-mates who immediately alerted Kevin Keegan and stubbed it out at the behest of his manager.
Keegan came to me and said in England players do not smoke. I was fine with it. Then we stopped on the way back because the players wanted fish and chips. It was full of grease and they were eating them out of old newspapers! Then they were eating chocolate and jelly babies!" he recalled in a chat with the Chronicle.
