“I’ve not spoken to anyone from Leicester. But that was another week I’d never experienced anything like that. Two in a short space of time… the emotional effect that had on us, and that wasn’t our club.

“The game against Leicester was almost irrelevant and this week has been even worse because I spoke to Emiliano. I keep calling him Emile because I told him I couldn’t pronounce the name.

“He came to the training ground, was halfway through his medical on Friday. I went across to see him for two or three minutes and I said, looking at his gear he was wearing, he would fit in with our team, he had holes in his trousers and looked like a tramp.

“That’s the memories I’ll have, he said ‘I’ll score you the goals’, and I said ‘I know you will’. I did invite him to Newcastle and I keep thinking about that. But he wanted to go back and see his teammates and get his belongings.”