Newcastle United fans will be hoping to see plenty of improvements on the pitch at St James' Park from their team when the international break is finished.

The lacklustre Toon currently find themselves in a seriously below-par 17th position in the early Premier League standings, having failed to win any of their three opening matches.

There were positives aplenty to take away from the exhilarating 3-2 defeat at the hands of Liverpool, but that high-octane performance was then followed up by a flat 0-0 draw against Leeds United at Elland Road.

While Eddie Howe's Magpies loiter in and around the relegation spaces, Elliot Anderson is at least further up the division with Nottingham Forest, with the former Newcastle youth product never looking back since departing Tyneside in the summer of 2024 for a chance at the City Ground.

Anderson's rise since leaving Newcastle

PSR-related troubles would see both Anderson and Yankuba Minteh leave St James' Park behind that summer for fresh opportunities elsewhere in the Premier League.

Howe and Co will feel plagued with more regret now that they let the 22-year-old go over the Minteh situation, considering the Forest number 8 has now just won his first senior England cap after regularly impressing for Nuno Santo's Tricky Trees.

It's a well-deserved moment in the spotlight for the 5-foot-10 star, too, having exploded into life from minute one of his Forest journey to be considered a very crucial cog for Nuno and Co in the same vein as Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood.

Indeed, his 2024/25 offering in league action would see him tally up two goals and six assists as a creative spark centrally.

Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson celebrates scoring their first goal with Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo

But, when you dive even deeper into the numbers, it's his relentless vigour that catches the eye more so than his ability to create an opening, winning a mightily impressive 6.5 duels per game last season in the league, as Forest clinched Europa League football.

Howe would love to call upon Anderson in his team right now to generate a buzz to get his side out of their malaise, but their costly loss has ended up being Forest's immense gain.

Still, the out-of-sorts Magpies will be hoping that they have picked up their own version of Anderson in the chaotic transfer window, having snapped up a promising midfielder from a fellow Premier League foe.

Newcastle's next version of Anderson

Thankfully, Newcastle are no longer in the same dire financial straits, helped no doubt by the £125m boost to their bank account when Alexander Isak unsurprisingly changed allegiances to Liverpool.

Off the back of such a hefty injection of cash, Newcastle went all out to land both Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade, with the £43m pick-up of Jacob Ramsey from Aston Villa perhaps flying under the radar subsequently.

While Howe's men will be sympathetic to Villa's own PSR obstacles in the here and now, they have benefited directly from Unai Emery's side having to sell a prized asset to balance the books by signing Ramsey, much like Forest knew they were on their way to stealing a gem when securing Anderson.

Despite finding himself in and out of the first-team picture at Villa Park - much like Anderson before him at St. James' Park - there has been more than enough promise in the 24-year-old's displays in the West Midlands to suggest he could be an impactful starter on Tyneside, having once been branded as a '"terrific" talent by ex-Villa boss Steven Gerrard.

The table above certainly validates the argument that Ramsey could become Howe's own Anderson, with the lively midfielder registering a healthy tally of 14 goals and 12 assists in the top-flight to date, even as 44 of his 138 Premier League clashes for his boyhood side came from off the bench.

Moreover, he also displays the same fight and hunger Anderson has in abundance, winning 3.5 duels per game, making him a lively character that could soon propel the Toon up the division, after a slow start out of the blocks.

There were many grumbles online after the £43m man's move to St James' Park was confirmed, as Villa bemoaned PSR-related issues resulting in the loss of one of their own.

Newcastle know all too well the same agony, but they will hope they can capitalise on the unfortunate situation at hand, away from being stung again.