The 27 capped French international played just the one season for Newcastle United having signed for the Magpies in an £8.5m deal from Glasgow Rangers.

This was a lot of money for a couple of reasons. Firstly, transfer fees as big as this for players coming from Scotland were seldom seen. Secondly, he'd signed for Rangers just 5 months earlier, on a free transfer, and had only played 18 league games for the Scottish side.

Both these factors led to this transfer being part of the 'Stevens Enquiry', with the findings raising several questions about how then manager of Newcastle United, Graeme Souness, and Chairman, Freddie Shepherd, had been involved in the deal. Both were essentially cleared with 'no clear evidence' being found of any wrongdoing.

A skilful centre half, he would partner Titus Bramble in the centre of defence with limited success.

He moved to Juventus after just one season on Tyneside, and went on to play and France with Lyon and then in Greece with Panathinaikos.