While Newcastle United might finally be beginning to thrive under a new manager and ownership, there may still be one player who they look at right now with a tinge of what could have been: Adam Armstrong.
The striker came through the academy set-up at St James' Park, but despite proving to be a prolific goal-scorer at U23s level - he bagged 17 goals in just 26 games - he didn't get much of a look-in with the first-team.
Armstrong made just 21 senior appearances for the Magpies before finally sealing a permanent move away to Blackburn Rovers for a reported £2m.
Since that switch, the now 25-year-old has come on leaps and bounds, becoming a real goal-scoring sensation at Championship level - last season saw him score a remarkable 28 goals in just 40 league games, despite Rovers finishing mid-table in the division and well off the play-off places.
It was no surprise then that form earned him a high-profile move to Premier League side Southampton, and while his debut campaign with the Saints has been hardly anything to write home about with just two goals and three assists in 19 games, he's clearly got the quality to become a real success at this level.
Dubbed a "special" talent by former Rovers team-mate Richie Smallwood, his former manager at Ewood Park, Tony Mowbray, gushed: "He’s a goalscorer. He always has been. I took him to Coventry because I saw him score some amazing goals for England Under-19s. He scores off both feet, he’s electrically fast off the mark, he’s got all the attributes.
"As long as you’ve got players who can slide him in, put passes over the top, put the ball in space for him he’ll score goals. His explosive pace at the top end of the pitch allows you to play both ways. it’s a devastating effect for the team."
Indeed, before his move to Southampton, former Newcastle star Steve Howey threw his weight behind a potential St James' Park return for Armstrong, even insisting that the striker himself would "relish" the opportunity to play in the black and white of Newcastle again.
He said: "I think he’d relish the chance of coming back and he'd be desperate to score goals because he is a goalscorer and we’ve seen him score some excellent goals from Blackburn.
"I think he’d be desperate for the chance to come back but it’s just whether the club are prepared to make that move."
Sadly for the Magpies, they missed the boat on that opportunity, and the striker is now worth a whopping 500% more than what they sold him for at around £12m according to CIES.
Given he's now featuring regularly for a Premier League side, and was once an exciting academy prospect, Newcastle are facing something of a nightmare in seeing one of their own line up in another colour.