Newcastle United coughed up £4.5million for Henri Saivet on a deal that was completed on Christmas Day 2015.

A beaming Saivet held up a Newcastle shirt for the first time at the training ground and spoke of his pride after swapping Bordeaux for Tyneside. Former chief scout Graham Carr had put in hours upon hours of scouting time looking at the attacking midfielder but things would soon to take a real turn for the worse for all concerned in the most ill-fated of transfers.

In his first few days at the club, Saivet said: "I am really proud to be able to play for this club, and I am really excited at the challenge that lies ahead. St. James’ Park is a really impressive and special stadium.

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"In France, there is nothing that compares to this, and I can’t wait to get out there with my new team-mates and help the team climb the table."

Saivet could play as a central midfielder or just behind the striker, and had scored 23 goals and made 13 assists for Bordeaux in France after 173 games. But after just four games, the midfielder never featured again for the Magpies under Steve McClaren, the man in charge when he signed.

McClaren was sacked before easter and even after Rafa Benitez came in to try to keep Newcastle in the top-flight in 2016 it was too little too late. Suddenly, the January signing was on the transfer list and while Benitez was happy to say on the record that Saivet was a superb trainer, he could not find a place in squad for the Championship, despite playing in pre-season at places like Southend and Doncaster!

Benitez loaned Saivet out to St Etienne, where he was a regular, but the French club could not stump up a permanent fee. He would return to Newcastle in 2017 after being blasted by St Etienne boss Christophe Galtier who coldly said: "If he did not play in England, now I know why: he is no longer hungry. At all."

Despite not making it into Benitez's Premier League squad week after week, he vowed to fight on at United, playing for the reserves and in the domestic cups, no less! However, Newcastle crashed out against Nottingham Forest in 2017 after extra time, and the FA Cup run lasted until round four when Chelsea turned Benitez's side over at Stamford Bridge.

Saivet had said: “I want to play for Newcastle United. Whenever you pull on a Newcastle shirt, it’s an honour. It’s a massive club and when you put the jersey on and get on to the pitch, you have to give 100% - even for the reserves. You want to play well every time."

After being dealt a host of injuries, Benitez handed the Senegal international his chance, with the star curling home a free-kick in a 3-2 win at West Ham. But it was simply a moment, nothing more and he'd be on the move again soon!

Eventually a loan stint at Sivasspor in Turkey gave Saivet another chance to win a permanent move. But he would return to Newcastle again later in 2018 only to be loaned back to the Turkish Lig with Bursaspor.

After 29 appearances with Bursaspor and a couple of goals and assists, Newcastle at least picked up an £800,000 loan fee for Saivet. But he was still a Toon player after Benitez walked out of the club in 2019 after Mike Ashley failed to hand the Spaniard a suitable deal.

Saivet was inherited by Steve Bruce and even appeared on the team picture in 2019/20 but never made a Premier League squad under the former Man United skipper and left in 2021.

Since his Toon exit, Saivet has not hung up his boots and at 34 is playing in Ligue 2 with Clermont. His first club after release was with Pau FC where he made 71 appearances and scored 16 times, even turning out as a centre-forward!

By the time he left the club, he had cost Newcastle £12m in total but said: "At the time, it was an opportunity, a dream, a thing you had to hold onto. I have no regrets."