Tranquillo Barnetta still stuck in Jesmond? - Eternally linked Toon targets who never signed

Particularly in the Mike Ashley era, when even a slither of joy or excitement was so unbelievably scarce, we as Newcastle fans always eagerly awaited fresh transfer rumours. Scouting the ever-growing list of linked players on YouTube became a regular pass time every Summer and January, and very few of these players ever ended up holding a black and white scarf on the St James Park turf.

Let's take a look at some of the most notorious names that were recurring links window after window but never signed, and decipher whether we missed a golden opportunity or dodged a major bullet..

Tranquillo Barnetta

Legend has it that Barnetta has been locked in his Jesmond hotel room for the last 14 years. The Swiss midfielder was rumoured to be an imminent signing before the 11/12 season following the departures of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan.

A regular starter for both his national team and Bayer Leverkusen at the time, he looked to be a potential improvement on his predecessors. However, Newcastle's new midfield duo of Yohan Cabaye and the late Cheick Tiote proved to be a match made in heaven as the Magpies miraculously ended the season in 5th, with very few at that point holding many regrets about not signing Barnetta.

Barnetta's career stagnated as Leverkusen did not offer him a new contract at the end of the following season. After an uninspiring spell at Schalke, a failed loan to Frankfurt and a year in the MLS with Philadelphia, he returned to his boyhood club St Gallen, where he would end his career. Although we will never know what he could have achieved had he moved to Newcastle before what was a very exciting season, it is fair to say most fans aren't too gutted that a move never did materialise.

Bas Dost

The man. The myth. The legend. The main inspiration for this list has to be Bas Dost, a name more familiar to Newcastle fans than many who have actually played for the club. No matter where Dost moved, how good his form was or how good we were doing, the Dutch forward would be linked window after window after window.

When he was first linked with Newcastle, Dost was tearing up the Dutch league for Heerenveen in outstandingly Prolific form, scoring a golden boot winning 32 goals in 34 Eredivisie games in the 11/12 season. His form earned him a move to Wolfsburg the following season where, although not as insanely prolific as he was in the Netherlands, Dost was still a great goal scorer. His crowning moment in Germany was scoring in the DFB Pokal final against Dortmund, winning his first career silverware.

Dost later moved to Sporting Lisbon where he was once again ridiculously prolific, ending his most successful season in Portugal with 34 league goals in 31 games. Although Dost never reached the same insane numbers in any of Europe's top 5 leagues as he did in the Netherlands and Portugal, Dost was still a consistent goal scorer wherever he played.

After further spells in The Netherlands and Germany and a brief but prolific stint with Club Brugge in Belgium, Dost now finds himself clubless, likely on the brink of retirement aged 35. Unlike many others Newcastle was eternally linked with, Dost went on to have a very successful career and proved to be the one that got away (Numerous times). Given he now finds himself without a club, it might be worth sending him a contract offer just for old-time's sake!

Douglas

In an Era where the Eredivisie and Ligue 1 seemed to be the only leagues where Newcastle sent any scouts, Brazilian centre-back Douglas was consistently rumoured to be the man destined to partner Coloccini at the back for Newcastle in the early 2010s.

Playing for Twente at the time under Steve Maclaren, Douglas attracted interest from across Europe as a dominating young centre-half with Champions League experience and a Dutch Cup to his name. Despite heavy links to Juventus, Wolfsburg and of course Newcastle, a big transfer never materialised for Douglas, with his eventual move from Twente being to Dynamo Moscow in 2013.

Following spells in Russia and Portugal, Douglas now finds himself playing amateur football in Barbados at age 36, after never playing in a top 5 European league. Once again, Newcastle won't have too many regrets for missing out on Douglas given how his career panned out.

Mevlut Erdniç

Turkish Forward Erdnic was first linked to Newcastle during his time at PSG. He had a strong goalscoring record despite not being a regular starter, with 24 goals in 76 appearances.

Erdniç was still somewhat regularly linked with a move to Newcastle in the years that followed as he moved around the top clubs in Ligue 1, with decent spells at both Rennes and St Ettienne. As links to Newcastle eventually withered away, Erdniç became something of a journeyman as he seemed to not stay anywhere for more than a season. Playing for 14 different clubs in his career, mostly in France and Russia, Mevlut never called anywhere home for too long,

Despite boasting an overall decent record in front of goal across his career, Erdniç never reached any real heights and, given his tendencies to jump ship at the first opportunity, is once again not a player Newcastle will regret not signing (if we ever truly wanted him to begin with).