Newcastle United have completed the signing of Florian Thauvin for £12 million on a six-year deal.
The 22-year-old becomes Newcastle’s fourth major signing this summer alongside Georginio Wijnaldum, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba, following his arrival from Olympique Marseille.
Upon his arrival in the North-East, Thauvin beamed that he was "delighted" to have joined the club, also explaining that he was "looking forward to playing for the team".
Au-revoir to Marseille
The former France U21 star spent two seasons at Marseille, which saw him start 57 Ligue 1 games following his move from LOSC Lille in 2013. In 69 games for the club, Thauvin has netted 13 times, whilst assisting a further seven.
Finding the net on a regular basis has been hard to come by at the French club with Thauvin failing to do so in the last 16 league games, his longest run without a goal in his top-flight career.
Thauvin featured for the U21 side on 10 occasions between 2013-14, scoring an impressive seven goals however, the youngster is still waiting to be called up to the main squad.
Arsene Wenger has been an admirer of the Frenchman for some time, telling media in 2013 that: “he [Thauvin] is one of the big prospects in French football.”
However, the wide-man has been known to have a bit of an attitude on him, forcing a move to Marseille from Lille which resulted in Lille fans attempt to attack the Frenchman at Lille airport, according to L’Equipe.
Cabella joins Marseille on loan
As part of the deal, Remy Cabella will move in the opposite direction on an initial loan deal, with a view to a permanent move.
The 25-year-old completed his medical on Wednesday morning with the Ligue 1 side after just one full season on Tyneside.
Cabella suffered a poor start to life at Newcastle following his move from Montpellier in 2014. The Frenchman failed to settle under Alan Pardew and John Carver, being forced to play out wide.
With 21 Premier League starts under his belt, fans perhaps expected too much too soon from the midfielder, who scored just one league goal in comparison to the 14 league goals before his move to Newcastle.
Following the then imminent arrival of Thauvin, Cabella was told it would be better to take then chance of regular first-team football, ahead of Euro 2016 which will take place in France.