'It's nice': Malick Thiaw moves to dispel myth around why players won't move to Newcastle United
Lazy pundits and indeed some current players, we're looking at you, Joao Pedro, still peddle the myth that top players won't want to move to Newcastle United because it's not in London.
We'll never understand the fascination with London, but that's our North East bias showing. Regardless, some players and pundits and even journalists will bang on as if London is a utopia while Newcastle is a desolate wasteland, yet somehow Manchester and Liverpool are perfectly fine, despite being no better than the Toon.
However, it does still seem to factor into the thinking of some players, as we saw with Joao Pedro this summer.
Indeed, Malick Thiaw may not have signed for Newcastle had he listened to other people's ill-informed opinions.
Malick Thiaw opted to discover Newcastle for himself rather than listen to outside noise
Thankfully, the German defender ignored the voices and set out to discover for himself, and now can't speak highly enough of Newcastle, as he revealed in a recent interview, as relayed by The Chronicle.
"It's nice. It's nice!
"I think when rumours first came out (that Thiaw would arrive at Newcastle), a lot of people told me otherwise, they told me like Newcastle is not so nice, but I made my own experience.
"I realised it's a nice place. My family liked it. The people are nice, you have a lot of nature, so yeah. People would say it's really, really cold. It is cold but it doesn't rain as much on this side of the country!
"But I am from Germany, so I don't think it's too bad for me! It’s the same there."
If two Brazilian lads can trade in the Copacabana for South Shields, then it can't be that bad
Newcastle also have plenty of other players who have come from abroad, from typically warmer climes and fallen in love with the City and the surrounding areas.
Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton are proud to call Newcastle home, and despite what the Italian media will have you believe, Sandro Tonali looks pretty settled in the region too.
One day, this myth will disappear, but it still seems like it's an obstacle the club are going to have to overcome when pitching the club to prospective signings.
