· 7 June 2025, 13:30
**There have been plenty of players who arrived at St James' Park full of promise but never really delivered on it, but when I read the Sport Witness headline for this story, I knew before I even opened it which Newcastle United flop they were talking about.**
For context, the Sport Witness headline was:
> “I was never happy there” – Spaniard opens up on difficult Newcastle United spell
One player immediately sprang to mind, and if you're of a certain age, I imagine that you're thinking of the same one.
Albert Luque went on to become Spain's sporting director
Albert Luque did score against the Mackems, so he'll always have that going for him
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I'm talking, of course, about Albert Luque. The £9.5 million signing from Deportivo who simply could not handle life in the Premier League.
Luque already had the difficult task of breaking into a side which had Alan Shearer and Michael Owen (shudder) in it, but as the Spaniard revealed in a recent interview with AS, he had absolutely no idea what he was letting himself in for.
Albert Luque was absolutely awful in all of his 34 appearances, only ever redeeming himself by scoring against the Mackems in a famous 4-1 win after going 1-0 down - a feat so remarkable, the Toon Army wrote a chant about it.
Albert Luque joined Newcastle to get away from a teammate
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Reflecting on his time on Tyneside, Luque has recalled how the move came about and his struggles to adapt to the English game.
> “There was a rift between Lendoiro and me, which is why I decided to go to Newcastle.“I will always be very grateful to Depor, the entire city, and all the Deportivo fans, but playing for Barça was a dream, and when that dream didn’t come true, Newcastle came and I went there, without even knowing where the city or the players of that team were.“I suffered the most serious injury of my career. A difficult team; a great squad, with Alan Shearer and Michael Owen.
>
> “But their football was very direct, very physical, very different from Spanish football. It was hard for me to adapt. I was never happy there, and I don’t really remember that time, in terms of sports, with any particular fondness.”
We don't either, mate, there's no sleep being lost on Tyneside tonight, I assure you.