Sold for £10m, now worth £45m: Newcastle had a howler on "immense" £53k-p/w dynamo - opinion

Newcastle United have signed numerous players since being promoted back to the Premier League at the end of the 2016/17 season.

However, as tends to be the case with most clubs, not every player who made the move to St James’ Park ended up having a particularly successful time there.

One player who had a spell with the Toon but has ended up finding his feet elsewhere is Mikel Merino. Signed on loan during the 2017 summer transfer window from Borussia Dortmund, the Spaniard then put pen to paper on a permanent deal with the Magpies a few months later.

With 24 league appearances to his name throughout the 2017/18 Premier League campaign, the midfielder earned himself an overall performance rating of 6.85/10, making him the joint-seventh highest rated player in the Newcastle squad according to WhoScored.

Unfortunately for Newcastle, La Liga club Real Sociedad triggered his £10m release clause in the summer of 2018. Since then, the 25-year-old – who is currently picking up £53k-per-week according to Salary Sport – has scored 16 goals and provided 15 assists in 145 appearances for the Spanish club.

Having played in 25 league games this season, the former Toon midfielder has scored three goals, provided two assists and earned an overall performance rating of 7.25/10 from WhoScored. That makes him the highest-rated player at Sociedad and the joint-fifth highest rated player in La Liga, alongside another former Newcastle man in Joselu.

In October 2017, shortly after arriving in England, Transfermarkt had Merino’s market value listed as £6.3m. It now stands at a massive £45m, highlighting a significant increase presumably based on his efforts in Spain.

This also backs up what journalist David Cartlidge had to say about the