Toulouse Defender Spotted En Route to Newcastle

Toulouse left-back, Cheikh M'Bengue, has today been spotted on route to Newcastle ahead of the Toon's match with Fulham this afternoon.

According to the French football news Twitter account, GFNFrance, the player’s future at Toulouse is in doubt and is desperate to push through a move to the Premier League.

The Senegalese international defender has previously been linked with the club, but no move ever came to fruition. He was also linked heavily with Arsenal over the Summer, but again nothing happened.

The account from which the photo was taken, is further captioned with “met Toulouse LB M’Bengue at Gatwick, going to Toon to watch the match + said signing for us is possible”.

M’Bengue is a 25 years old tough defender who was born in Toulouse and played, so far, his entire professional career in the south-western city of France. For the last few seasons he has been considered as one of the most consistent left-backs in the league, being an integral part of the club’s more than decent results. Unfortunately for him, however, he is more famous, or rather infamous, for his discipline.

The lad, who has been embroiled in controversy ever since he debuted for Toulouse in 2007, was suspended in 2008 for 13 matches (6 months) after a horror tackle in a reserve team game against Monaco.

The same misfortune struck him again in 2009 when for the same reason (and once more against Monaco) he received a 2 month ban.

Despite playing at virtually every youth level for France, in 2011 he publicly announced he’d rather player for Senegal, and since then has appeared 10 times for The Lions. 

There is always the possibility that this is a case of a preliminary approach, but it’s certainly interesting from a Newcastle fan’s perspective. He’s a very well sought-after defender and with Davide Santon rumoured to be perhaps on his way out of Newcastle in the Summer, it could be a realistic move by the Newcastle management.

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You can see the photo here