Adam Armstrong was sold because Rafa Benitez decided he “wasn't quite ready to play for Newcastle ”, boss Steve Bruce has explained.
Southampton hitman Armstrong, 24, will come full circle and play against his hometown club on Saturday.
The Geordie striker's transfers have been the reverse of Alan Shearer's – starting at Newcastle, then prolific goal scoring for Blackburn and now he's the Saints £15m new signing.
His success since leaving the Toon in August 2018 has raised an uncomfortable question. How come another talented kid had to leave to get a proper chance to prove their full potential?
Some 29 goals in 43 games for Rovers last season, including nine in the last six games, has left supporters wondering why he couldn't have been nurtured towards the Toon first team.
The same goes for ex Newcastle kid Ivan Toney, who fired Brentford to the Premier League with 33 goals.
Two valuable Geordie assets gone... while Newcastle paid £40m for Joelinton who has netted just six league goals in 70 appearances.
Benitez paid £9m for Yoshi Muto who flopped, the same summer as Armstrong was sold to Blackburn for £1.75m, and Toney went to Peterborough.
Steve Bruce brought back injury-prone Andy Carroll to bolster attacking numbers – and he scored just two goals in 43 appearances over two seasons.
This at the same time as luminaries like Dan Ashworth, then England's director of elite development spoke of Armstrong's talent, as he helped the U17 side to win the World Cup.
Not surprisingly Armstrong doesn't believe he got a “proper chance” at Newcastle, although loans to Coventry, Barnsley and Bolton helped him as a teenager.
Bruce said: “These are the decisions managers make. The previous manager (Benitez) must have thought that he wasn't quite ready to play for Newcastle.
“There must have been a decision made asking is the kid ever going to be good enough to be Newcastle's centre forward. Obviously the decision to sell him, or Ivan Toney, is a decision you have to look at carefully.
“Since he left Newcastle he has done very well. I am sure it is a huge, huge, game for him coming back to his boyhood club.
“I am please he has gone on and done very well since he left the club. A big move to the Premier League. I didn't have the chance to work with the lad. He is a local and will desperately want to do well when he comes up here."
Of his return to St James' Park in the Premier League Armstrong said this week: “I’ve got a lot of family up there who are Newcastle fans, but they’ll be Southampton at the weekend. It will be good, but obviously I played them at Blackburn twice.
“It’s something I’m looking forward to. I've been back to St James’ as not a Newcastle player . I can’t wait. Newcastle away will be a good one. Every game is going to be brilliant. No disrespect to the Championship
“I’ve always wanted (to play in the Premier League), ever since I was little. Hopefully I can entertain the fans and put on a show.”
Armstrong reckons Southampton's style of nicking the ball high up the pitch, or countering quickly, suits his style and he's already off the mark netting on his debut.
The only consolation for Newcastle is they had a 40 per cent sell on clause banking around £6m from his £15m transfer.
