'I used to cry' - Meet the £6.7m signing Newcastle beat Arsenal to who vanished from football

Newcastle United's most expensive January signing during a mid-season trolley dash was a senior international on Arsenal's radar who had made his name in France. Sound familiar? Well, Bruno Guimaraes merely followed in the footsteps of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who joined the club in remarkably similar circumstances nine years previously.

Unlike Bruno, of course, Yanga-Mbiwa did not become the toast of Tyneside but it is easy to forget what a coup the move was considered at the time after Newcastle paid just £6.7m for a defender who had captained Montpellier to the Ligue 1 title a few months previously. Was it any wonder, then, that the 23-year-old was earmarked as Newcastle skipper Fabricio Coloccini's long-term successor?

To fulfil that potential, however, Yanga-Mbiwa was not only going to have to adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premier League but, also, quickly settle into a new environment as the centre-back tested himself abroad for the first time as a footballer. That very first day at the training ground certainly gave Yanga-Mbiwa a taste of what was to come in January, 2013.

"It was difficult because I came from the south of France, where the heat is very good, and it was totally different in Newcastle," he told ChronicleLive. "Sometimes, I used to cry. Not only me but a couple of others, too. It was funny. I opened the window and I didn't see the sun for maybe three or four days. It was snowing!

"Also, I speak English now and understand English but, when I was there, when people spoke Geordie to me, it was like Chinese! The first time was strange but when you started to get to know them, you just loved them because they gave you love. They gave you everything.

"Even when I went down the street or was