Habib Beye admits he had several chances to join Newcastle United before agreeing a three-year contract with them last week.
The former Marseille defender told the Sunday Sun: "I had the chance to join Newcastle more than a month before the start of the new season.
"The offer from Newcastle, a big club, came again though, and it was a good financial proposal - it would be a lie to hide that fact.
"But seeing the injury to Cedric Carrasso was what really made me reflect.
"Like him, I am 29, and he was not injured because of a tackle, but because of what can happen to the human body as time goes by.
"If that kind of mishap had happened to me in the situation I was in at Marseille with the end of my contract, it would have made things very complicated.
"You have to think of these things and it's for that reason that I accepted the challenge of moving to Newcastle."
