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Charlie Austin reveals how close he was to joining Newcastle from QPR
West Brom forward Charlie Austin said his proposed move from QPR to Newcastle United was ‘done on his side’.
Austin, 30, spent two-and-a-half seasons at QPR. He signed from Burnley in 2013 and went on to score 48 goals in 89 games for the club before leaving to join Southampton in January 2016.
At the start of that 2015/16 season though, Steve McClaren’s Newcastle United side were showing a strong interest in Austin – how strong we didn’t know until Austin revealed all in a Twitter Q&A last night:
Done on my side
— Charlie Austin (@chazaustin10) April 18, 2020
Throughout the summer of 2015 and into that Premier League season, Newcastle were persistently monitoring Austin. His QPR exit was imminent that year, but to who was open to interpretation.
He ended up spending three-and-a-half seasons at St Mary’s before last summer dropping down to the Championship to sign for Slaven Bilic’s West Brom.
Can you get 15 out of 15 on this QPR quiz? Have a go now!
Today he finds himself as more of a back-up striker at The Hawthorns, but an important member of the team nonetheless, who’s chipped in with some big goals this season.
In his QPR days, Austin was in his best form. He was knocking on the England door after scoring 18 times in the 2014/15 season – the year QPR finished bottom of the Premier League.
The verdict
Deals in football have endless complications, terms and so on, and they fall through all the time. Newcastle might’ve been a good fit for Austin though.
Maybe not so much under McClaren, but Newcastle is a passionate club with a track record of no.9’s, and in his prime, Austin would’ve been a hit on Tyneside.
