Georginio Wijnaldum first arrived in England when Newcastle United signed him from PSV Eindhoven in 2015 and a year later, he left the Magpies for Liverpool.
Having spent five seasons with the Reds, the 30-year-old left Anfield as a free agent and completed a switch to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
Tuesday’s edition of L’Equipe has a detailed interview with Wijnaldum and they started the chat by asking him if he had an opportunity to join PSG prior to joining the Tyneside club.
The Netherlands international has detailed the reason why he snubbed the Ligue 1 side in favour of Newcastle.
“That’s right, yes. In fact, the first contacts date back to 2014, after the World Cup. PSG had tried to bring me in but I wanted to stay at PSV Eindhoven for at least another year or try to be the Dutch champion before leaving,” he said.
“I also wanted to stay with Memphis (Depay). I had been injured for a long time the previous season and felt a bit indebted to the club and the fans.
“After that [winning the title with PSV], I was more open to the idea of leaving and Paris came back. But at that point I didn’t feel a real urge to sign. I chose to go to Newcastle, who really wanted me and made me understand it.”
The newspaper further quizzed the midfielder whether his decision to pick Newcastle over PSG was down to his desire to play in the Premier League. When responding to that, the Dutchman said he simply wasn’t convinced enough to pick PSG over the English club.
“Not necessarily. I wanted to play in the Premier League one day but hadn’t decided when exactly. My agent was negotiating with Paris. I also spoke with the club. But I never felt that I was really wanted,” Wijnaldum explained.
“It was more, ‘OK, you have to play well or you want to be one among the rest.’ I was also at a point in my life when, having experienced everything in the Netherlands, I needed to keep playing. And, at that point, Paris didn’t give me the impression that it was the right choice.”
