Newcastle are still paying a heavy price for letting Kevin Mbabu go in the summer of 2017, when Rafa Benitez was still the club's manager..

What was the story?

The Magpies signed the Switzerland international back in 2013 when Alan Pardew was boss, giving him a three-year deal after seeing him impress in a trial.

At the time, reserve team manager, Willie Donachie said: "Kevin is strong, confident, skilful and a very good prospect." But after making just five appearances for the first-team, Mbabu was sent out on loan, before completing a permanent move back home to Switzerland to BSC Young Boys for just £106k.

Since then, he has played numerous times in the Champions League and Europa League, and is now playing for Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg.

Rafa's mistake

Whilst it's always easy with hindsight to say that a club should never have let a certain young player go, Mbabu's raw talents even in his short time with Newcastle surely warranted more patience and time.

His problems with injuries of course didn't help his cause, but his promising display against Chelsea in 2015 showcased the kind of potential he had. The Independent gave him a seven match rating, and said that he enjoyed "an impressive starting debut", praising him for his "series of threatening runs down the flank".

When you look at the fact the Magpies have mixed and matched with the likes of Emil Krafth, Javier Manquillo and DeAndre Yedlin in recent times for the starting right-back slot, it's a painful reminder of how if they had just kept the faith and ridden out the bad times, they could have had a star in the making in Mbabu.