His new deal is for 4 years with the club getting the ever-famous "undisclosed fee" from Rovers. The Irish forward played an integral role in Newcastle United's (and arguably Demba Ba's) fast starts to the 2011-12 Premier League campaign. Although the handwriting was truly on the wall when the club signed Papiss Cisse in the January window, Best shunned a move to Celtic, preferring (as we would have expected of him) to stay and fight for a spot in the first team at St. James' Park.
For whatever reason the goals never really came in bunches for Best, but he did have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, often scoring critical goals for the Toon (including the disallowed winner in the 5-4 4-4 comeback v. Arsenal in the 2010-11 season) in addition to working tirelessly all over the pitch. He would cement a place in the first team in the 2011-12 season through his seamless meshing with Demba Ba, oftentimes turning provider through flick-on headers from Tim Krul's outlets. Once Leon was injured, the long balls from Krul never did exhibit the effectiveness as they did when Best was working to out-hustle defenders and get on the end of them.
Regardless your opinion about his skills or his goal scoring record, one thing is certain: he never EVER stopped working for Newcastle United. It is with this fond memory of Leon Best that we close the door on his Newcastle career, and wish him well at Blackburn (it still pains me that he finds his next career stop here...). I may have said hurtful things during our time together, but you will always have my respect.