Newcastle United Transfers: Every Graham Carr Signing Ranked Worst To Best
25. Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Signed From: Montpellier
Cruelly scapegoated for Newcastle's poor defensive performances in 2013, there's a good argument that suggests that Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa was badly misunderstood at St James Park. He looked like a proper footballing defender when he signed, he was let down badly by Alan Pardew, who didn't believe he was good enough to succeed Fabricio Coloccini.
Whether that was actually the case remains to be seen, because he simply wasn't given the long-term chance to prove it. But Pardew's assessment that he wasn't good enough in the air was utter horsesh*t.
24. Mehdi Abeid
Signed From: Lens
Aside from very brief flashes of brilliance - like against Man City in the League Cup and Liverpool in the league memorably - Mehdi Abeid mostly failed to live up to his billing as a rising star when he signed from Lens.
He was pretty low risk when he signed, and he did manage to build a rapport with the fans (somehow), but the fact that three managers didn't fancy him as a first teamer probably says enough about him.
23. Aleksandar Mitrovic
Signed From: Anderlecht
Signed with an almighty reputation as one of Europe's real rising stars, Aleksandar Mitrovic's biggest impact when he first appeared in black and white was more to do with his temperament than his ability. He's still young, and he did score 9 goals in his first season, but the volatile striker is yet to really make a claim to being the player a significant portion of the Newcastle fan-base want him to be.
If you were in a fight, you'd want him by your side, but leading the line is a different prospect entirely.