Florian Thauvin became Newcastle’s latest big-money acquisition when he completed a £12m move from Marseille earlier this week. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson met the French winger yesterday as he was formally presented to the media

THE unveiling of a new signing tends to be a heavily stage-managed affair.

A player, resplendent in his brand new training top, is led to his seat with photographers’ bulbs flashing around him. He indulges in the usual platitudes – boyhood fan of the club, best supporters in the country, excited to be taking on a new challenge. Then he departs, having given away little of what is really going on inside his head.

If the player has arrived from overseas, requiring the services of an interpreter to communicate with those who are questioning him, the task of gaining any insight becomes even more difficult.

Sometimes, though, it is what remains unsaid that is the most instructive part of the whole experience. Yesterday, when Newcastle’s latest £12m addition, Florian Thauvin, was unveiled to the waiting media, events followed a fairly predictable script. Until, that is, he was asked to account for a difficult last 12 months with Marseille.

“It’s something I’ve talked about in France and I don’t want to go into that again,” said the 22-year-old winger. With his hackles having risen, the conversation moved on. In any language, a burning desire to draw a line under the past and avoid any difficult questions about issues of temperament and talent was easy to discern.

Of all the signings Newcastle have made in this summer of unexpected largesse, the decision to sign Thauvin after a courtship that lasted the best part of three years is undoubtedly the biggest gamble.

Two years ago, when at the age of 20 he joined Marseille in a €15m move from Lille, he was regarded as one of the most talented players in Europe.

Arsenal were in for him, an approach that was confirmed by Thauvin himself yesterday, and Newcastle were making a series of attempts to sign him, with their chief scout, Graham Carr, having inked the winger’s name at the very top of his continental wish list.

French commentators were describing the Orleans-born midfielder as the “new Franck Ribery”, such was his seemingly limitless potential and explosive skills while cutting in from the flank.

A long and successful career looked assured, but in the 24 months since, it is safe to say that things have not gone according to plan. Instead of catapulting him to the next level, Thauvin’s time at Marseille saw him stagnate.

He managed just 13 goals in 69 league games for Marseille, and leaves the Stade Velodrome still awaiting his first senior cap for France’s national side. Last season, respected French newspaper L’Equipe included Thauvin in their selection for the ‘Worst team of the season’.

There are reasons for the slump. Marseille have practically imploded over the last year or so, culminating in the departure of a host of players this summer and the sudden exit of former boss Marcelo Bielsa earlier this month. Thauvin, with his head perhaps having been turned by the constant links to the Premier League, found himself stuck in a rut. The pace and energy that was so integral to his game in the early years of his career suddenly appeared to have been blunted.

All of which takes us to yesterday, and the left winger’s arrival in the North-East. Newcastle have dealt with mercurial Frenchmen before, sometimes with great success – David Ginola, Laurent Robert – and sometimes with an infuriating degree of failure, with the names of Hatem Ben Arfa and Remy Cabella immediately springing to mind. Time will tell which side of the divide Thauvin will fall on.

“People need to remember that I’m still a very young player with a lot of years ahead of me,” said Thauvin. “Look at me at the end of my career, and then maybe we can compare how I have done.

“I hope to be one of the best players in the world, but I need to make sure I work hard to achieve that goal.

“I’ve followed Newcastle’s transfer business through the summer and they’ve signed some very good players, young players like me. Hopefully, that can be a springboard for themselves, for the club and for me to go on to big things.”

Where Thauvin fits into the Newcastle team remains to be seen, but having expressed a strong desire to be involved in this afternoon’s televised game at Manchester United, the club’s latest addition looks set to carve out a niche on the left-hand side of Steve McClaren’s preferred attacking-midfield triumvirate.

With Georginio Wijnaldum in the ‘number ten’ role and Moussa Sissoko lining up on the right, the Magpies have assembled an exciting supply line for either Aleksandar Mitrovic or Papiss Cisse in the lone striker role.

Thauvin is set to be an integral part of that, with his natural width the key factor in the decision to jettison Cabella in order to bring him to Tyneside.

“He is very young,” said McClaren. “But he has lots of potential. I have spoken to both Lee (Congerton) and Graham about him and they have been following him for a couple of years now.

“With young players, sometimes you make the right moves and sometimes the wrong moves. It has not always worked out for him but from what I have seen, he is a player who if we treat him right, could be a very, very good signing.”

Yesterday, Thauvin was accompanied by his family and girlfriend, Charlotte Pirroni, the reigning Miss Cote d’Azur, as he settled in to his new surrounds. His life has changed, and at the moment at least, he is relishing the chance to embrace his new environment.

“The city seems very welcoming,” he said. “There are a lot of bridges here in Newcastle, and I can see one out of my hotel window.”

A bridge over troubled waters perhaps? While he might not want to talk about it, Thauvin has already had more than enough experience of having to get himself out of those.