GINOLA LAMENTS THE WASTE OF HIS TALENTS

The 1998/99 Football Writers` Player of the Year made the admission during an interview with the Observer newspaper in which he bared his soul about his disappointment of not playing at the highest stage.

"When I look at the past and I think about my quality, my skills, what I'm capable of on the pitch, I really deserve to have played in a really top team," Ginola said.

"I will not say that Newcastle and Tottenham are not big teams. But when I talk big I mean AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United - teams who are playing year in year out at the top level, playing for the biggest prizes."

The 33-year-old winger moved to Newcastle from Paris St Germain for £2 million in 1995 by Kevin Keegan and, near the end of the current England manager`s tenure at St James` Park, an approach from Barcelona was rebuffed - which is something Ginola has always regretted.

Soon afterwards, Kenny Dalglish was appointed as Magpies boss and the pair never saw eye-to-eye - leading to the multi-talented Frenchman`s transfer to Tottenham in the summer of 1997.

"This kind of thing really frustrates me because I think I would have been even bigger today if I had played there for four or five years. I would have played in the Champions League every year," he said.

"I know I would have been huge. People who know me, they all know that I am really wasting my talent."