At the end of the 2008-09 campaign Sebastien Bassong was named as Newcastle’s player of the season, earning him an £8m move to Spurs after an eye-catching start to life in England. Today the 31 year-old centre-back finds himself without a club, FOUR Premier League relegations later.
The Frenchman was released by Norwich City this summer and started training with Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham City soon after, hoping to secure a deal with the man that signed him for Spurs.
Redknapp was said to be keen on a reunion with Bassong and ready to hand him a contract, but following his sacking last week, the Cameroon defender has been told to look elsewhere by the Championship strugglers, leaving NUFC’s former prospect still searching for a club.
It’s fair to say the powerful defender failed to live up to the initial hype, with his career going from bad to worse since leaving Spurs. He’s suffered an astonishing FOUR Premier League relegations since then, going down with ourselves in 2009, Wolves in 2012 and Norwich in 2014 and 2016 – not to mention relegations with French side Metz prior to his Premier League career.
A player once tipped for the top, to a desperate defender now struggling to find a club in the second tier. It just shows how quickly things in football can change.