Newcastle have recently returned to winning ways with a 3-2 win over West Ham, in a win that will lift some of the doom and gloom mood on Tyneside this Christmas.
The club have struggled for goals of late, with Dwight Gayle, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Joselu scoring just seven league goals between them.
Big things were expected from Joselu after his £5million move from Stoke.
However, former Toon star Shearer has revealed Benitez really wanted Abraham and Hernandez at Newcastle instead of the Spanish striker.
“He [Benitez] wanted to bring players in,” the BBC sport pundit told Match of the Day.
“I know he had Javier Hernandez and Tammy Abraham ready to come in, those deals were pulled at the last minute, which is why he had to spend £5m on Joselu.”
Hernandez was made available by Bayer Leverkusen and was also, at one point, tipped to join Chelsea.
However, the Manchester United hitman ended up joining West Ham instead.
Hernandez has hit just for goals from 15 games for the Hammers since his return to England from the Bundesliga.
Abraham, meanwhile, has fared better at Swansea.
The Chelsea striker is spending the season on loan at the Liberty Stadium and has five goals from 21 games so far.
He also received his first England call-up earlier in the season and has made two appearances for the Three Lions so far.