Newcastle United fans would surely have been glad to see 7pm on Monday, 1st of September roll around. It signalled the end of what was a torrid transfer window for the Magpies, despite late additions. Not only did they miss out on several key signings, including Hugo Ekitike and Bryan Mbuemo, but they also lost a key player.

That player, of course, was Alexander Isak. His transfer saga was the talk of the summer, and things went right until the final day of the window, when his drawn-out departure to Liverpool was finally confirmed.

Over the past couple of years, the Magpies have had to sell players to keep up with PSR regulations, meaning they have got rid of some important figures.

Newcastle’s most recent big sales

There is no doubt that losing Isak this summer will be tough for Newcastle to recover from on the pitch. He is now the player who holds the British transfer record of £125m after his deadline day move to Anfield.

For the Magpies, replacing his record of 62 goals and 11 assists in 109 appearances at St James’ Park will not be easy. In his last two seasons at the club, he’s bagged over 20 goals, with last season’s tally of 23 his best.

However, it is not just Isak who has been a major sale over the years. Losing Allan-Saint Maximin to Al-Ahli back in 2023 saw them lose attacking flair on the wing. He made 124 appearances for the club, scoring 13 goals and assisting a further 21.

Another player who recently left the club under the PIF regime, who could have become an important part of Eddie Howe’s squad, was Yankuba Minteh.

Since leaving the North East for the South Coast and Brighton, he has seven goals and five assists in 40 games.

There is one sale that really sticks out in recent seasons, however, who has gone on to do great things since leaving St James’ Park.

Elliot Anderson is Newcastle’s most frustrating sale

The summer of 2024 was one of the key time periods during which Newcastle had to make sales to comply with PSR. That was the summer Minteh departed, although looking back, he was not the most frustrating sale.

Instead, most Newcastle fans would surely agree that Whitley Bay-born midfielder Elliot Anderson was the one who got away that summer. He joined Nottingham Forest for a fee of £35m, which represented pure profit as he is an academy graduate.

The boyhood Newcastle fan made 55 appearances at St James’ Park before his departure to the East Midlands. He has gone from strength to strength across his 45 appearances in Garibaldi Red, scoring twice and assisting seven goals.

That was summed up with a sensational player of the match performance on England debut last week at Villa Park. He ran the show for Thomas Tuchel’s side, and talkSPORT pundit Max Scott later said that he plays like he's “Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Zinedine Zidane” combined.

Based on his statistics from the last couple of seasons at Forest, it is easy to see where the praise has come from.

For example, last term, he averaged 1.2 key passes and 4 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes, and in three Premier League games in 2025/26, he has already averaged 1.7 key passes and 4.3 tackles and interceptions per game.

Newcastle fans must surely look at their academy star as one that got away. A midfield of Anderson, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali would have been a sight to behold at St James' Park.

Even though Anderson was sold to help boost PSR, this is surely a move that PIF and Howe regret, considering how well he is performing for club and country.