Newcastle tried and failed to sign Cole Palmer in 2021 after being taken over and now the forward has more goals than Alexander Isak.
Isak has been having a superb season, his second since joining from Real Sociedad for £63m in 2022 and becoming Newcastle’s record signing.
The 24-year-old scored ten goals in his debut campaign but has massively improved on that this time around with 21 goals in all competitions, 17 of which are in the Premier League.
Newcastle tried to sign Palmer
Isak is flying but three players have scored more goals than him this season and he sits behind Ollie Watkins, and goal manchine Erling Haaland who has 20 league goals.
Surprisingly the Norway international is joined by his former City team-mate Palmer at the top of the scoring charts.
The Magpies know just how good Palmer is as he scored and assisted against them in Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge last month.
The 21-year-old is actually a player Howe tried to bring to St James’ Park just over two years ago.
Following the takeover in October 2021 Howe was quickly appointed manager and was backed in the transfer market with the likes of Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes as he guided Newcastle to survival.
One player the Magpies tried to sign but were unsuccessful in their attempts was Palmer, who at the time was on the fringes of the Manchester City squad and not getting many minutes.
The Athletic reported this was potentially why Newcastle made a move to take him on loan, but it was rejected and Palmer stayed at the Etihad.
Had that loan been accepted Howe’s side could have been well placed to sign the England international on a permanent transfer.
Newcastle stayed up without Palmer but now seeing him go on to become a star at Chelsea there must be case of what if around St James’ Park.