The signing of Sebastian Bassong from Metz, a club with whom the player had come through the youth system before his 3 years of senior football, proved to be something of a money spinner for Newcastle United.

He signed for United in the summer of 2008 for a fee of £500k. Starting his career at left back he would eventually establish himself as a centre half and having played 30 league games for the Magpies that season the club defended into chaos. With no manager in place and with the season about the start it looked like Bassong has been priced out of the market with Newcastle demanding £15m for his services.

But after the player refused to train or to travel with United the Board had to relent, allowing his to move to Tottenham for £8m, bizarrely having rejected a £10m offer earlier in the window.

We're not suggesting that the player wasn't worth the tidy sum that Spurs paid for him but he didn't last too long in London either, playing only 45 league games in his three seasons before being loaned out to Wolves prior to a permanent and successful spell at Norwich.

Born in France, and capped 2 times for their U21 team, he eventually settled on playing for Cameroon (as he'd not played in a competitive game for France and both his parents were form the country). He played 15 times for his International side, including in the South African World Cup in 2010.