7 Premier League Stars That Newcastle Allowed To Slip Away

6. Alan Shearer

By now we all know the tale of the sheet metal-worker's son from Newcastle who would become a bonafide legend for the club he worshipped as a boy. It could have been so different for Shearer, however, had he signed for us as a teenager instead of joining Southampton in April 1986 after leaving Wallsend Boys Club. He even had a successful trial with the Magpies - there was a rumour scouts only saw him play one match in goal - before accepting a youth contract with the Saints having been discovered by legendary talent scout Jack Hixon. It was at the Dell, although only in his final two seasons, and later with Blackburn that Shearer's stock as a deadly goalscorer would rise before Kevin Keegan and Sir John Hall allowed him to fulfil a lifelong dream of running out at St James' Park in black and white with the number nine on his back when they brought him home in a then world record £15 million deal a a decade after our initial rejection. Whether he would have grew to become the same player had he signed for the Club instead of Southampton is something we will never know.