Newcastle Fans Left Wondering 'What If?' as Former Strikers Continue Prolific Records

Newcastle fans have been left contemplating how their season could be had they kept their strike force in Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic - as each have enjoyed tremendous goal scoring success at West Brom and Fulham respectively.

Newcastle United have played six games in the Premier League this season and seven in all competitions, but only been able to produce five goals. Whereas collectively, Gayle and Mitrovic have produced double that for their clubs.

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Manager Rafa Benitez bolstered his forward options for this season by bringing in Salomon Rondon on a season-long loan from West Brom - Dwight Gayle went in the opposite direction - and signing Yoshinori Muto from Mainz for £9.5m, after allowing Mitrovic to leave for Fulham initially on loan last season. 

The eventual sale of Mitrovic was criticised by some Newcastle fans, despite the hefty £27m fee agreed by the two clubs, and it seems that those who wanted the Serbian to remain on Tyneside had good reason. The 24-year-old leads the way in the Premier League goalscoring table with an impressive five goals in six games for the Cottagers.

Gayle’s goal over the weekend made it five goals and five assists in just eight games in the Championship for West Brom. The good news for Toon fans will be that Gayle is only on-loan and due to hook back up with his Newcastle teammates at the end of the season.

The Magpies tweeted their loan watch on Monday with a link to the Newcastle website, and the fans have been wondering how they’d be getting on had they kept Gayle and Mitrovic whilst criticising the current Newcastle attacking line.