Over the years, Newcastle have sold many of their star players. In recent years, very few of those players have actually succeeded at their new clubs. And some of them have been financial disasters for the buying club.
Loic Remy, on loan from QPR, is the current fan favourite at St James' Park. The striker's performances and goals have been the highlight of an average season and because Newcastle failed to tie down any solid clauses in his loan contract he is now catching the attention of supposed bigger clubs. Very few people on Tyneside are confident that he'll be wearing the black and white stripes next season.
- Pardew realistic on Loic Remy future
- Ryder: Make Remy part of Toon's future
Yes, Loic is a very good player, but, so were many of his predecessors. In an attempt to dull the interest of any potential suitors lurking around Loic, let's take a look at what happened to some of them once they left Newcastle.
Here are just a few who spring to mind:
Andy Carroll, Liverpool, £35 million
Carroll was a huge favourite, and at 6ft 4in that can be taken literally. The local lad put his head in where others wouldn't and excelled in most of his 20 Premier League games in 2010 before Liverpool swooped and signed him for a ludicrous transfer fee. It has to go down as one of the worst signings of all time.
In the three years since the deal, Carroll has changed clubs again, leaving Liverpool to sign for West Ham for a still-too-high £15 million. He has only managed 50 league starts and 13 goals in the years since he left Newcastle.
Even if you only consider Liverpool's net outlay to be £20 million (allowing for the way the fee increased in line with the amount Liverpool received for Fernando Torres), his six league goals work out at an average of £3,333,333.33 each!
I'll level with you though -- I'd have him back at Newcastle tomorrow, but not for those sort of numbers.
Oba Martins, Wolfsburg, £9 million
How Newcastle recouped £9 million for the hit-and-miss Nigerian striker shortly after their disastrous relegation, remains a mystery. He barely kicked a football in the Bundesliga, let alone score many goals. He was quickly moved on to Rubin, Birmingham City (where he won a League Cup but was relegated), Levante and now Seattle Sounders in the MLS.
Remarkably he is still only 29.
Sebastien Bassong, Tottenham, £8 million
It is not just the strikers who struggle after they leave the Toon. I genuinely didn't understand the Bassong love-in when he played for Newcastle. Sure, he was a bargain at £500,000 from Metz, but the fact is he started only 26 league games in Newcastle's relegation season and was sent off in two of them -- very costly defeats to Wigan and Fulham.
He jumped the sinking ship as soon as Tottenham came in for him and they paid a crazy £8 million for his services. Thirty-three league games later he was sent on loan to Wolves before Spurs cut their losses and flogged him to Norwich City.
Charles N'Zogbia, Wigan, £8 million
Charles was frequently angling for a move when he played for Newcastle. He had it in his mind that he might get Real Madrid or Barca interested but in reality he went to Wigan after falling out with then-Toon boss Joe Kinnear. This was the first instance of Kinnear provoking a player by mispronouncing his name: 'Charles Insomnia'.
To be fair to Charles he did quite well at Wigan. He again went looking for a move and ended up with Aston Villa. They paid £9.5 million for him two-and-a-half years ago and it hasn't worked out well. He is often injured and has played in only 35 league games, scoring four goals.
Demba Ba, Chelsea, £7.5 million release clause
Demba is probably the best example that Remy should take note of. He was a big hero on Tyneside, worshipped by some after scoring 29 goals in 54 Premier League games. He apparently employed a whole team of agents to always look for his next move and when Chelsea came in only 18 months after he arrived, he was off like a shot.
On the one hand you can't blame a player for wanting to test themselves at a club who regularly compete in the Champions League, but unfortunately for Demba he just doesn't look up to the job. He has started only 13 league games in 13 months.
He must have been saddened by Jose Mourinho's comments this week when he said: "Chelsea are a club missing a striker". He is well below Samuel Eto'o and Fernando Torres in the pecking order, but hey, at least he's richer, right? Who needs game time and adulation anyway?
There are others too: Habib Beye for one. You can even go as far back as Jermaine Jenas, whose career nosedived spectacularly after leaving "the goldfish bowl".
It is actually quite difficult to find any recent players who have gone on to be a success. Perhaps Scott Parker and James Milner would be considered so, but unlike the five players I listed, neither of them were ever St James' Park favourites.
As for Yohan Cabaye -- it is too early to judge how it will work out for him at PSG, though at time of writing he has started only one of their six games since signing.
Beware Loic: the grass isn't always greener on the other side.