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Newcastle United is one of the oldest and best supported clubs in European football. They've won four English top-division titles thus far, along with six FA Cups and one League Cup.
However, the Northeast club have struggled in recent years and been relegated twice from the Premier League in the last 15 seasons. Most of their struggles have been down to their recruitment policies. Newcastle are the only club in the English top division yet to make a signing this window.
Apart from their reluctance to sign players, the Toons also showed poor judgment while selling players and a lot of their rejects have gone on to do well elsewhere.
With that in mind, we look at three former Newcastle United players who succeeded after leaving the club.
#1 Ivan Toney
Ivan Toney joined Newcastle United from Northampton United in 2015. He spent three years of his career at St. James' Park, playing four games in all competitions. Over those three years, the Englishman was loaned to Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, Scunthorpe United and Wigan Athletic.
He left the Magpies permanently to join Peterborough United, where he revived his career. The Northampton-born striker played 76 league games for the Posh, scoring 40 goals. He won the EFL League One Player of the Year award during his time at Peterborough and was also included in the EFL League One Team of the Season 2019-20.
His performances for the Cambridgeshire-based club caught the attention of Brentford manager Thomas Frank and he soon joined the Bees for a club-record fee in 2020. The 25-year old won the EFL Championship Golden Shoe during his debut season at Brentford Community Stadium after scoring 31 times in 45 games. He set a new Championship record for most goals scored in a single season and was also included in the PFA Championship Team of the Season.
#2 Adam Armstrong
Adam Armstrong joined Newcastle United's youth academy in 2006 and worked his way through the club's youth teams to make his senior debut in 2014. However, he failed to cement his place in the Magpies' first team and made just 17 league apperances during his time at the club.
Armstrong left to join Blackburn Rovers for regular game time in 2018 and hasn't looked back since. He's played 130 league games for the Rovers so far, scoring 49 goals. The 24-year old attacker won the PFA Fans' Player of the Season for his performances last season and finished only behind Ivan Toney in the race for the Golden Boot.
Armstrong has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs recently and could make his return to the English top division in the coming weeks.
#3 Florian Thauvin
Florian Thauvin joined Newcastle United for £15m from Marseille in 2015. The Frenchman featured in just 13 games for the Northeast club before returning to Marseille on loan in 2016 and later permanently in 2017.
The Orleans-born attacker has revived his career since joining his former club and scored 63 goals in 158 games for the French club before signing for Tigres UANL earlier this window. He finished as the Olympians' top scorer in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and also won the Ligue 1 Player of the Month accolade on three different occasions.
The 28-year old has also featured regularly for the French national football team in recent years and was part of the squad which won the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
