It seems oh so long ago now that eyebrows were initially raised upon Dwight Gayle’s handing of the iconic No.9 shirt at Newcastle United upon his arrival.
While the 26-year-old had proved to be a decent enough striker at Crystal Palace, he was never really handed much in the way of a starting berth in south London.
Clearly, his bagging of 16 goals already this term is never likely to be reproduced in the Premier League, though the £10m or so splashed out to sign him looks like a great bit of business.
In fact, so much so that Palace fans on Twitter have been lamenting his sale of late, considering their own attacking problems.
That is not to say the ex-Peterborough man is a better option than Christian Benteke, but the fact Alan Pardew is currently struggling for much depth after the towering Belgian is indicative of his poor transfer planning.
So, we’ve compiled the best tweets that seem to indicate Palace fans on Twitter never wanted Gayle sold.
https://twitter.com/mrarsenal84/status/807895938291367936
https://twitter.com/KarlosTCooper/status/807663520485699584
Dwight Gayle hat-trick today. Such a great player and a real loss to Palace when he went. Shame we couldn't find a way to keep him. #cpfc
— HoggGoblin🇺🇦 (@HoggGoblin) December 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/samthornton123/status/807625756624953344
https://twitter.com/HoiIett/status/807606897385861122
Gayle could easily become top goal scorer in the Premier League next year when Newcastle take our place. #cpfc
— Geoff(Disenfranchised Socialist) (@gplondon) December 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/WeDoMediaMark/status/807627328549486592