We’ve witnessed some fine strikers at Newcastle United over the years, but for every Alan Shearer or Andy Cole, there’s been a Xisco or Albert Luque.
The Mail have today produced a list of the 100 worst strikers in Premier League history and we’ve picked up on the FIVE former Newcastle United forwards that feature in their list.
Ranked between 80th to 61st, here are the ex-NUFC attackers who’ve infamously made the cut:
77th – Nile Ranger
‘Ranger, who has been arrested more times than he has scored in the Premier League, is certainly one of the more colourful characters to have graced the league.
As a youngster in the Newcastle academy, Ranger was handed plenty of opportunities after helping the club to promotion from the Championship in 2010.
But after no goals in 26 Premier League games, Ranger’s off-field problems eventually caught up with him and he departed by mutual consent in March 2013.’
75th – Luuk de Jong
‘A prolific goalscorer at Twente who had lost his way at Borussia Monchengladbach, Newcastle were hoping to rejuvenate De Jong when he arrived in January 2014.
His loan spell turned out to be a disaster, as he failed to find the net once in 12 appearances under Alan Pardew.
He has since been racking up the goals for PSV back in Holland, with 54 in 97 games.’
71st – Michael Chopra
‘The Newcastle academy product famously pitched up at newly-promoted Sunderland in a £5m deal in 2007.
It was a high price at the time, but he failed to live up to the promise under Roy Keane, scoring eight in 39 after finding the net just once in the Premier League for his boyhood club.
He finally found success with Cardiff in the Championship but now turns out for Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League.’
67th – Shefki Kuqi
‘The Finland striker was something of a Football League journeyman, though his various forays into the Premier League brought little success.
Despite standing at 6ft 2in, the bulky hitman scored only seven times in his one season at Ewood Park, mostly finding himself on the bench.
Kuqi failed to find the net in 10 appearances on loan at Fulham in 2007, nor in six games for Newcastle when he was recruited to replace the Liverpool-bound Andy Carroll in 2011.’
61st – Andreas Andersson
‘Despite a failed spell at AC Milan in 1997-98, Newcastle decided Andersson’s impressive goalscoring record at Gothenburg was worth the risk. But the Swede never really stood a chance with Alan Shearer in his way.
He was meant to be Kenny Dalglish’s Tino Asprilla replacement, but he netted just twice in 18 matches before being shipped of to AIK Solna.’
An ‘interesting’ mix from the Mail, however I’m a little bemused to see the likes of Xisco, Stephane Guivarc’h, Emannuel Riviere and Albert Luque fail to make the cut, with the quartet costing the club well over £30m yet scoring just 5 goals between them!
Let us know your thoughts – is there any awful ex-NUFC striker they missed?!
