Cup final against Wigan Athletic, Nemanja Vidić (who made a seven-minute cameo at the end of the game) gave Rossi his medal in recognition of Rossi's contribution to the team's success in the earlier rounds. At the start of the 2006–07 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United on loan until 1 January 2007, where he was expected to gain some first team experience. He made his home debut on 24 September 2006. Rossi scored his only Newcastle goal in his first start on 25 October 2006, against Portsmouth in a League Cup third round tie at St James' Park. For the second half of the season, he was again loaned out, this time to his former club Parma, scoring nine goals in 19 league appearances. Villarreal On 31 July 2007, Manchester United confirmed that Rossi had been sold to Spanish club Villarreal for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around £6.6 million (€10 million). He scored his first goal for Villarreal on his debut against Valencia on 26 August 2007. In his second season with Villarreal, Rossi had scored 12 goals in 30 league appearances, along with three goals in eight Champions League appearances. In January 2011, he signed a contract extension with Villarreal until 2016. The 2010–11 season proved to be his breakthrough season, as he scored 32 goals in 56 appearances in all competitions, helping the club to a fourth-place finish in La Liga, scoring 18 goals, which qualified them for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, also helping Villarreal to the semi-finals of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League that season, scoring 11 goals, and the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. An anterior cruciate ligament injury on Rossi's right knee that he picked up in the 3–0 loss against Real Madrid on 26 October 2011 caused Rossi to be out for six months. Rossi re injured his anterior cruciate ligament of right knee in training on 13 April 2012, and was out for a further 10 months. At the end of his 6 year stay with Villarreal, he had scored 82 goals in 192 games in all competitions and became the club's all time top scorer. After 10 years of scoring his final goal for Villarreal in October 2011 in a match against Real Zaragoza, his record was surpassed by Gerard Moreno on 11 August 2021, after he scored a goal in the 2021 UEFA Super Cup match against Chelsea.