Newcastle Transfers: 10 More French Players Who Played For The Toon

9. Stephane Guivarc'h

France '98 mascot and logoBorn: September 6th, 1970 in Concarneau Signed By: Kenny Dalglish in 1998 for £3,500,000 (Source: Express) Signed From: Auxerre Left Newcastle: 1998 for £3,500,000 (Source: Guardian) League Appearances: 4 League Goals: 1 The 1998 World Cup was a real breakthrough for French football. Having failed to qualify for the 1994 tournament, France went all the way on home turf, securing victory over Brazil in a final perhaps most famous for Ronaldo's removal and reinstatement to the starting line-up after a fit the night before. Winning the World Cup led to a influx of French players to British shores, with Thierry Henry and Robert Pires joining Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit at Arsenal, and Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf and Didier Deschamps turning out for Chelsea. In June 1998, Kenny Dalglish decided to get in on the action, signing prolific goalscorer Stephane Guivarc'h for 3.5 million pounds. Guivarc'h had played in the final, keeping Christophe Dugarry out of the team, and his record domestically in France - with 21 goals in just 32 games for Auxerre - suggested that he would be a huge success on Tyneside, taking Newcastle back toward the heady heights of the Keegan days and leading from the front with Alan Shearer. However, Kenny Dalglish's days at Newcastle were numbered when Guivarc'h signed, and although his successor Ruud Gullit gave Guivarc'h his debut - and was rewarded with a goal which would turn out to be both his first and last on Tyneside - it was clear that Gullit was not a fan of Dalglish's man. Ultimately, Guivarc'h would only play four times in the Premier League, including in a 4-1 loss against Liverpool and defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, before being shipped on to Glasgow Rangers for the same fee that he was purchased for. Although Guivarc'h himself claims that he was 'cut off' by Gullit, and while it's possible that he wasn't given enough time to establish himself at Newcastle, it's undeniable that he is one of many flops that played in black and white in the late 1990s. The Daily Mail even went as far as naming him the worst striker to ever grace in the Premier League. After Rangers, Guivarc'h returned to France with Auxerre and later played for Guingamp, before retiring in his early 30s - at which time compatriots like Henry and David Trezeguet were lighting up European football. Would he make the cut today? No. Besides from being one of the worst strikers to ever start for a World Cup winning team, Guivarc'h showed none of his goalscoring prowess in England, and clearly was better out for the domestic French league.
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Dave Hedley is a writer, journalist and broadcaster based in Newcastle. A keen follower of both music and sport, and a keen follower of Newcastle United, he writes for WhatCulture! on football and other sports.