“I was astonished” – Player reveals what led him to swerve Newcastle transfer and end up elsewhere

 

Newcastle United and Southampton target Ruben Semedo has confirmed he had offers from England before joining Villarreal.

The defender was presented by the Spanish club yesterday after completing a €14m deal. Sporting still have the right to get 20% of a future sale.

When returning to Portugal to join the national team squad, Semedo spoke to local journalists and said: “England was also a hypothesis, but I was astonished when I heard the name of Villarreal. The project is amazing… That’s what led me to sign for Villarreal. They have a good team and quality of play.” (via Record)

Earlier this week, newspaper Jornal de Notícias published a document showing Newcastle United had indeed reached an agreement for the player, so it seems that the move to Spain was really his personal choice.

Record claims the defender will earn €1m per season in Spain, so the wages don’t see a reason why he wouldn’t join a Premier League side.

Besides Newcastle and Southampton, Semedo had previously been linked to Everton, West Brom and other English sides. This is really the end of another transfer saga, so we now sit and wait to see who’s the next Sporting wonderkid to be chased by Premier League clubs.