Rúben Semedo has told Friday’s edition of Marca that he turned down Newcastle United to join Villarreal.
The 30-year-old has been with Qatari side Al-Khor SC since the start of this year, and he spoke to the Spanish newspaper about his career so far.
During the course of the interview, the defender revealed Newcastle had made an attempt to sign him when he was at Sporting.
The Portuguese club promoted the centre-back to their first team in 2014 and sold him to the La Liga side in 2017. The Yellow Submarine reportedly paid €14m for him and prior to agreeing a deal with them, Newcastle showed keen interest.
In fact, Semedo claims the Magpies made an offer, but he rejected it after learning about Newcastle on the internet. This convinced him to pick Villarreal over the Premier League side.
When asked how his move to Villarreal took shape, he said: “It was when I was leaving for the U21 European championship, which we lost to Spain.”
“My agent told me that there was a proposal from Villarreal and Newcastle, but I saw on the internet that it was raining a lot there and I said no. I had the idea of Villarreal, who like to play football. I had the idea of Villarreal, who like to play football. Riquelme, Forlán and I said ‘no, I’m going there’. I didn’t think twice.”
Semedo’s decision to snub Newcastle for the Spanish club didn’t work out well for him. He made five appearances in his debut season and was sent out on loan in his second season before being sold to Olympiacos in the summer of 2019.
