Over the years, Newcastle United and Leeds United have done plenty of business in the transfer market with the most-recent example being second-choice goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
Notable examples include James Milner and Jonathan Woodgate who have made the move between the two clubs. The duo left Leeds after the club’s financial collapse and remained in the Premier League.
Milner of course, has gone from being a Thorp Arch academy product to playing 637 times in the Premier League. Currently, the Brighton star sits 16 appearances behind Gareth Barry’s all-time record of 653.
Darlow is currently the only player in the Leeds squad to boast both Elland Road and St James’ Park on his CV. But there is another player that could have added Newcastle to a CV that already included Leeds United.
However, another club came calling and blew Newcastle’s offer out of the water forcing Leeds to remove any chance of a move to Tyneside, a move that would have seen him play in the Premier League.
Ross McCormack shares details of Newcastle bid at Leeds
Scotland international McCormack starred at Leeds. Of all of the clubs on his CV, the former striker played for Leeds most, clocking up 157 appearances for The Whites, captaining the club and scoring 58 goals.
After four years at Elland Road and in Massimo Cellino’s first summer, McCormack says Alan Pardew’s Newcastle bid £5m for him in 2014 but when Fulham came calling with an £11m bid, he was off.
“Yeah, there was Premier League interest. But it was the same problem I had when I went to Villa from Fulham. The Championship clubs that wanted me were willing to offer the club more money,” he said.
“More than the Premier League teams were, so it was either stay where you are or go to another Championship club. Newcastle was one, Malaga was another. Malaga was quite close, £6m or £7m.
“Then Fulham, boom, £11m, there you go. I didn’t really think about going to Newcastle, their offer was only £5m so I knew I wouldn’t be going there,” McCormack said, during an interview with Open Goal.
Other players that swapped Newcastle for Leeds, or vice versa
Since 2000, there are a number of players that have been transferred between Leeds and Newcastle other than just Darlow, and almost McCormack. As said, Woodgate and Milner are two obvious examples.
| Name | Date | From | To | Fee |
| Karl Darlow | 2023 | Newcastle | Leeds | £400,000 |
| Vurnon Anita | 2017 | Newcastle | Leeds | Free |
| Paul Huntington | 2007 | Newcastle | Leeds | Undisclosed |
| James Milner | 2004 | Leeds | Newcastle | £5m |
| Steven Caldwell | 2003 | Newcastle | Leeds | loan |
| Michael Bridges | 2003 | Leeds | Newcastle | loan |
| Jonathan Woodgate | 2002 | Leeds | Newcastle | £9m |
McCormack went on to Fulham and starred for the London club before Aston Villa, where his career hit the skids and the striker was forced to salvage what was left with moves to Australia and Scotland.
A far cry from when McCormack was told by Cellino he could not train for Leeds in order to remain fit and avoid injury, ahead of his move to Fulham a decade ago and becoming the league’s biggest transfer.
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