Left winger Laurent Robert and his dead-ball skill at Newcastle

Frenchman Laurent Robert first showed his qualities at Montpellier, where he began his professional career in 1994. He was a classic left winger with great speed, able to outrun defenders with ease. But there was something special about him: he could score from any distance, and he was a free-kick master who left goalkeepers helpless.

French giants Paris Saint-Germain had been watching the talented winger and signed him in 1999. That same year Robert made his debut for the French national team, on 18th August against Northern Ireland. He went on to score 1 goal, against Turkey in 2000, in 9 appearances for France. Laurent Robert stayed in Paris for only two seasons before Newcastle paid £9.5m for him.

Laurent Robert made a real impact at the Magpies and became one of the team’s key players. The Frenchman spent 4 seasons at St James’ Park as an integral part of Newcastle’s starting eleven. He scored 32 goals with the Magpies’ colours. In his 4 years at Newcastle, Robert scored 4 goals against Arsenal, 3 against Liverpool and one against Manchester United, most of them from direct free kicks.

Interestingly, Robert’s free kick against Liverpool, a goal that was crucial in Newcastle’s push for Champions League qualification, featured in the film “Goal!”. Robert then went on loan to Portsmouth before moving to Benfica in 2006. Why did he leave Newcastle United? He fell out with the new manager Graeme Souness after criticising him publicly. The Frenchman also criticised the rest of the Newcastle squad, and the club’s management decided to get rid of one of the best left wingers in the Premier League.

In the final years of his career Laurent Robert moved between several clubs – Levante, Derby County, Toronto FC and Larissa – before retiring in 2009.

The Newcastle years in detail

Robert was born in Saint-Benoit on the island of Reunion on 21 May 1975, and he became the first player from Reunion to play for France. His nine caps included the 4-0 win over Turkey in November 2000 in which he scored his only international goal, and he was part of the France squad that won the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. At club level he scored four goals in the campaign that brought PSG the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, and in the 2000-01 Champions League he scored once and set up two more goals in a 7-2 win over Rosenborg.

Newcastle signed him on a five-year contract on 1 August 2001. Over the following seasons he made 181 appearances in all competitions and scored 32 goals, 22 of them in 129 league games. In his first season alone five of his goals came from free kicks. He played 11 times in the 2002-03 Champions League and was part of the side that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2003-04.

The dispute and the later years

The break with Graeme Souness came in 2005. Robert criticised the manager publicly in April and again in two interviews in June, and he was fined two weeks’ wages for each interview, a total of £180,000. After the loan at Portsmouth, where his one league goal came against West Bromwich Albion, he joined Benfica on a free transfer in January 2006. In Lisbon he scored a winning free kick against Porto and started both legs of the Champions League last-16 win over Liverpool.

The final stops were short. He made 13 appearances without scoring for Levante, 4 for Derby County in the 2007-08 season, when the club finished with an all-time low of 11 points, 17 MLS games for Toronto FC and 6 for Larissa. He later returned to Montpellier to coach in the academy and the women’s section between 2015 and 2020.