7 Premier League Stars That Newcastle Allowed To Slip Away

5. Adam Johnson

Johnson certainly falls into the 'one that got away' category for Newcastle after losing the the boyhood Toon fan - often marked down incorrectly as a follower of Sunderland - to Middlesbrough when he was just a 12-year-old in 1997. Joining the St James€™ Park School of Excellence from Cleveland Juniors two years earlier the winger discovered the pathway to the Magpies first-team contained too many hurdles and opted to pursue his dream of playing in the Premier League on Teesside where he starred in Boro's 2003/04 Youth Cup winning side. It was at the Riverside Stadium and later with Manchester City where Johnson would reinforce his reputation as one of the talents of his generation. Inevitably, as fate could only predict, Johnson would return to haunt his beloved Newcastle at various stages of his career and inflict unmerciful torture on us when clad in a red and white shirt, scoring in consecutive Tyne-Wear derby victories for Sunderland at St James'. Another damning indictment of our youth setup in the mid-nineties.