Florian Thauvin, without a club since the termination of his contract by the Monterrey Tigers, joined Udinese, in Serie A, to offer himself a new experience abroad after England (Newcastle) and Mexico, has announced the Italian club on Tuesday.
“The French striker has signed a contract until June 30, 2025”, announced the club from Friuli, in northeastern Italy, currently seventh in the Italian Championship, a few hours before the end of the transfer window set at 8 p.m. in Italy.
The 30-year-old striker was released a few days ago by the Tigres, where he had been playing since the summer of 2021, to free up a place as a foreigner for the benefit of a little-known Argentinian player, Nicolas Ibanez. In a year and a half, the record of the ex-Marseillais is quite modest in the jersey of the Mexican club with 39 matches played (including 23 as a starter) for eight goals and five assists.
Thauvin is therefore the fourth French world champion of 2018 to join Serie A after Olivier Giroud (AC Milan), Paul Pogba (Juventus) and Samuel Umtiti (on loan to Lecce from FC Barcelona).
He had become a priority for Udinese after the injury of striker Gerard Deulofeu, one of the architects of the good start to the season for the Italian team, who will have to have surgery on his left knee.
With this return to Europe, Thauvin will find the opportunity to relaunch after the end of his inglorious adventure in Mexico, where he never really managed to find marks, like his beginnings which had been marked by a red card in his first game.
His disgrace materialized at the start of last week, when the Mexican club had formalized its decision to “terminate” his contract. Last Tuesday, the player had presented himself despite everything at the gates of the training center, with a lawyer to find that access was now forbidden to him, according to certain sources. Only his compatriot André-Pierre Gignac, the local idol, had exchanged a few words with him, eyewitnesses reported.
An agreement was finally reached in the following days.
