Gabriel Obertan insists there's no cliques inside the Newcastle United dressing room.

The former Manchester United winger is part of a big French contingent now at Toon.

"It is nonsense to say that players will develop into little groups just because they are all French," he told the Sunday Sun.

"Football is the language of the dressing room, not French or English. If you play well and work hard and the team is playing well you will be accepted and it will be easy for everyone.

"Never mind Spanish, English, French - we all understand what we need to do and that is why it is working at the moment.

"I know there are other French players in the dressing room, but actually when I arrived the two players I spent the most time with were Leon Best and Danny Simpson.

"I spoke to the French lads, of course, but it is those two who are probably my closest friends. You know, you can speak the same language as someone and not get on with them at all."