10 Exceptional Players Newcastle United Should Never Have Turned Down

3. Bastian Schweinsteiger

Hey remember the time Newcastle central midfield Bastian Schweinsteiger won the World Cup this summer with Germany after 6 glorious years at the heart of the Magpies' engine room? No? Something must be wrong there, then... Back in 2008, Kevin Keegan identified the German maestro - who was at the time not in the first team picture at Bayern Munich - as the perfect replacement for James Milner, who was on his way to Aston Villa for £12m, much to the frustrations of the Newcastle crowd. Luckily for them, Keegan's solution would only cost £3m in fees and £30,000 a week in wages - an absolute steal even by that year's standards. Sadly, Mike Ashley disagreed - based on what nobody will ever know - and refused to sanction the move, further upsetting Keegan, who used the snub as one of the reasons he would ultimately quit the club - along with the insane signing of Nacho Gonzalez. Imagine Schweinsteiger for £3m: there's no way Newcastle would have went down that season with the German pulling the strings in midfield rather than Danny Guthrie.