Two in two days as Gouffran signs for Newcastle

The 26-year-old joins from former Europa League group opponents Girondins Bordeaux for an undisclosed fee believe to be somewhere around the £1.2 million mark.

Gouffran only had six months remaining on his deal at Bordeaux hence the reduced price as they sought to recoup at least some money for a player, who can play either as a striker or as a wide forward in a front three and possesses pace and the ability to use either foot, that could walk away from the club for free in the summer.

Gouffran started off his career at Caen where he made 115 appearances scoring 33 goals along the way and helped his side gain promotion to Ligue 1 where he courted interest from Arsenal. Rather than joining Arsenal though, Gouffran, a French U21 international at the time, decided to stay in France and opted to join Bordeaux in 2008 for a fee of €6.5 million. He made 140 appearances for Bordeaux scoring 31 goals before joining United yesterday.

As you can see he’s not really a prolific striker and scores a goal roughly every four games (well 3.9 games actually), but that doesn’t take into account the amount of times he plays out wide in games where it’s only natural he will get less chances to score. If you wish to know an interesting fact about Gouffran he is actually allergic to grass according to his Wikipedia page.

Speaking to the official club website after securing his move to United, Gouffran had this to say following his arrival:

“I am really proud to have joined this fantastic Club. Throughout the last few years I have enjoyed every moment of my time at Bordeaux but all good things must come to an end and it was time for a new challenge.”

“And the challenge of playing for one of the most famous teams in England, with all of its history and its famous support, is very exciting,” he added.

Meanwhile Alan Pardew added to the whole bog-standard new signing spiel by saying:

“Yoan comes to the Club with a great pedigree and, like the other signings we have made this month, is a player who will add considerable strength to our squad.”

“I liked the look of him when we played Bordeaux at St. James’ Park earlier this season; pacy, direct and intelligent and those are qualities I like in a footballer.”

“I am sure he will quickly adapt to the rigours and intensity of the Premier League and play an important role for us for the remainder of the season.”

So there we go. Two in two days. It’s amazing what can be achieved with a bit of willingness. And with Massidio Haidara expected to sign today after ironing out a few details of his deal, and Moussa Sissoko rumoured to be signing a pre-contract agreement at the very least, not forgetting the already signed Mathieu Debchy and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, dare I say that we might actually end up having a good transfer window when we needed it most?

Fingers crossed eh?