WHEN it comes to recruiting attacking players from France’s Ligue 1, the North-East does not have a particularly good track record.

Newcastle United have had their fingers burned on a number of occasions in recent years, with the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa, Remy Cabella and Florian Thauvin arriving on Tyneside with lofty reputations, only to fail to live up to their billing amid the cut and thrust of the Premier League.

Sunderland’s dealings in the French market have not been as regular, but it is hard to claim they have been any more successful.

Lilian Laslandes was supposed to be a replacement for Niall Quinn when he made a £3.6m move from Bordeaux in 2001. Thirteen senior appearances later, and with only a solitary League Cup goal to show for his efforts, he was returning to his homeland on a free transfer with his stock having fallen dramatically.

Djibril Cisse? He did a job on a season-long loan from Marseille, scoring ten Premier League goals, but was never really in contention for a permanent move. David Bellion? He moved on to Manchester United after joining Sunderland from Cannes, but his career in English football ultimately amounted to very little.

Wahbi Khazri, the latest cross-Channel import to find himself making a new home in the North-East, is aware of the lengthy list of failures. He knows Cabella and Thauvin from his time in Ligue 1, and was previously a team-mate of Newcastle’s January signing, Henri Saivet, at Bordeaux.

So as he rocks back in his chair at Sunderland’s Academy of Light training ground, he knows he is following a path that has historically led down a series of dead ends. Two games into his Black Cats career, though, and he has already seen enough to be confident of bucking the trend.

“I know what has happened in the past, but we are all different players and we all have different qualities,” said Khazri, who completed a £9m switch from the Stade de Bordeaux in the middle of last month. “I like to think that I have the right qualities to flourish in the Premier League.

“Cabella, for instance, is very technical and may suit the Spanish league for example. I have only played two games, but I think my game suits here.

“I am a technical player, and hopefully people will discover that about me. I can create chances – that’s what I have been brought here for.”

There have been glimpses of that creativity in his first two games for his new employers, although the quality of the opposition has mitigated against too much of an instant impact.

Matches against Manchester City and Liverpool have provided something of a baptism of fire, but while Khazri could only help Sunderland claim a point from the two matches, he did not look out of place on the Premier League stage.

While his game is based on sound technique and a fair smattering of flair, he looks to be robust enough to handle the physical challenge of the English top-flight.

A Corsica-born Tunisia international, who spent time in the French representative youth system before electing to represent the North African country of his parents, Khazri spent five years with Bastia before moving to Bordeaux.

He had opportunities to move elsewhere before electing to join Sunderland, only to reject them in order to remain with Bordeaux. Last month, he felt the time was right to move on, but wasn’t he concerned by Sunderland’s struggles in the Premier League’s bottom three?

“I don’t see this as a risk,” he said. “In some ways, there is a risk wherever you go unless you are playing at the very top of the table. It is a very tight league here, and we are not out of it yet, but we all believe we can do it.

“From what I have seen so far, I certainly think the team is good enough to survive and have a good future. We showed that in the two games I have been here.

“They were not performances from the bottom three. We were worth more than what we got, now it is another big club in Man United and we need to carry on where we left off at Liverpool. If we can win, it can be the start of something good.”

Today’s game pits him against a Manchester United side who have rediscovered their form in the last few weeks, but with time ticking away, it is imperative that Sunderland get back to winning ways soon if they are to scramble to safety.

They are currently four points adrift of 17th-placed Newcastle, and will surely have to win at least five of their remaining 13 games if they are going to survive. Given that they have only claimed five league wins all season, that is hardly going to be easy, but you will not find Khazri adopting a downbeat approach.

The 25-year-old always seems to have a smile on his face, and is hoping his positivity will rub off on those around him as the pressure at the foot of the table continues to mount.

“No one likes to lose, and you are never happy about that,” he said. “But as a new player, you can bring fresh energy to a club. Hopefully, the new players can help, not just on the pitch but off it. I want to help people feel a little better.

“The best way I can do that is by performing well. If I can help with a smile off the pitch, that is good too. But what we really need is to stay up this year, and then aim for the top ten next year.”