Let's look at it this way.
Playing for Newcastle, surrounded by absolute rubbish = looked poor on the whole, but definitely stood out on occasion
Playing for France, surrounded by world class players = looked brilliant, possibly even their star man on several occasions
What's so laughable? Or you expect his price to be much higher? I am sure somebody would pay it.
Don't get me wrong though, I don't think we need him. Our priorities are elsewhere. Wings are more than sorted and looks like Witsel and Mata are coming in to the middle. ( lol )