Last month, Newcastle United’s Isaac Hayden joined Standard Liège on a season-long loan deal.
The defensive midfielder, who spent the previous season on loan at Norwich City, has made four starts for the Belgian club this season.
La Dernière Heure had a chat with the Newcastle owned player and he opened up about his injury woes earlier in his career.
The 28-year-old joined the Magpies from Arsenal in 2016 and he’s struggled with multiple injuries since November 2018. During his temporary spell at Norwich, he was forced to miss 30 matches due to two different knee injuries.
“There were three or four injuries in a row that disturbed me,” he said, referring to the injuries he suffered at Newcastle and Norwich.
La Dernière Heure say the Newcastle man wants to ‘relaunch his career’ at Standard Liège and that’s one of the reasons he favoured a move to the Jupiler Pro League over the Championship in the last window.
“I could stay in the Championship, but with 100% of my resources I wanted to play in D1 [first division]. I needed a new challenge,” Hayden explained.
The midfielder’s contract at Newcastle lasts until 2026 and when asked if he’s considering returning to the Premier League, Hayden said: “In football, things go very quickly.”
Hayden is eligible to represent Jamaica but his dream is to play for England in the future.
“I don’t see myself arriving in a [Jamaica] selection out of opportunism, I don’t want to take the place of a player who has played all the matches and be able to play a World Cup in his place. It’s always a dream to play for England,” the midfielder added.
