Marseille star Florian Thauvin has escaped unharmed after becoming the victim of a vicious attack in France on Monday evening.
The Newcastle United player - who is on loan at the French club - was set upon by two thugs at around 7pm after the criminals had deliberately ploughed into his car.
Thauvin was then attacked by one of the men while the other attempted to mug him after he had left his car to assess the damage, in claims made by "?La Provence newspaper. However, the 22-year-old managed to free himself after he was strangled by one of his assailants, before fleeing into a nearby building to prevent the thugs from causing him any more harm.
Despite making the narrow escape however, Thauvin was robbed of his £22,000 watch - among other valuable items during the raid - as the two men made off on the scooter that they had used to ram Thauvin's car with in the first place.
The incident is the latest in a series of unfortunate events for Thauvin over the past 18 months.
The ex-Lille star moved to Newcastle in July 2015 for a reported fee of £15.6m but, after failing to settle in the North East of England and with game time under then manager Steve McClaren hard to come by, the winger switched back to former club Marseille on a six-month loan deal the following January.
Breaking | Florian Thauvin viciously attacked by criminals last night https://t.co/7rBIlznEkK
Thauvin started just six of the 16 games he appeared in for the Magpies being heading back to Ligue 1, and rejoined his old side again in August this year on a season-long loan after Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez saw no place for the France international in his first-team squad.
Marseille have now set to take up the option to resign Thauvin on a permanent basis at the end of the season after triggering the release clause in his contract at St.James' Park.
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