Jimmy Kebe fools people into thinking he’s the latest Frenchman to join Newcastle

Newcastle's apparent policy of recruiting French only players in the January transfer window has become the subject of such parody that even Premier League players from other clubs are getting in on the joke.

The Magpies have already signed Mathieu Debuchy from Lille, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa from Montpellier and Yoan Gouffran from Bordeaux this month, Massadio Haidara is expected to arrive from Nancy in the coming days and there has also been speculation linking Toulouse midfielder Moussa Sissoko with a move to the North-East.

Considering that Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan are already at the club, Gallic rather than Geordie looks set to become the prevalent accent in the Newcastle dressing room as Alan Pardew seeks to become the least likely leader of a French revolution in history.

Newcastle’s recent penchant for French players has been the subject of plenty of light-hearted ribbing of late and Reading's Jimmy Kebe decided to add to the fun on Twitter this afternoon by claiming that he was going to follow his countrymen to the north-east.

Not realising that the likes of Sky Sports News and us vultures in the media sniffing around for the slightest hint of transfer speculation were going to pounce on what appeared to be actual evidence, Kebe had to post a follow-up tweet clarifying that he was just taking the mick and that he had no intention of leaving the Royals.

Newcastle fans will no doubt enjoy rubbing it in Kebe's face if the French recruits turn out to be roaring successes on Tyneside, but if not, they should take some consolation in the fact that they'll hardly be as bad as Stephane Guivarc'h.