
Newcastle were an emerging force under Alan Pardew at the start of the 2010s, finishing fifth in the Premier League in 2011/12 to qualify for Europe.
Keen on bolstering his squad for the second half of the campaign that season, Pardew spent big in the transfer market bringing in a new striker. Papiss Cisse arrived from Freiburg for £9.3m to link up with his Senegal team-mate Demba Ba, forming a formidable partnership at Newcastle in the process.