Coming through as a youngster at the then Premier League side Leeds united, Alan Smith was a talented striker with a bright future. Commanding a £7,000,000 fee in the 2003/2004 season, when Leeds were relegated, Smith infamously joined major rivals Manchester United despite kissing the Leeds badge more than once. Converted by Sir Alex Ferguson to a holding midfielder, after pretty much failing as a striker, Smith then joined Newcastle in 2007 for a fee of £6,000,000 after the midfield experiment also failed and a major injury kept him out for some months. While with The Magpies Smith registered 94 appearances without notching a competitive goal. As an ex-striker, this was massively underwhelming, and wasn't made up for by any other outstanding contributions to the team.
