Newcastle Transfers: Ayoze Confirms Magpies Were His Second Choice

By Simon Gallagher / November 4, 2014

Not so long ago, Newcastle fans everywhere were encouraged to crow about the fact that Spanish striker Ayoze Perez had turned down European giants Barcelona and Real Madrid to sign for the Toon. They'd made him feel loved and wanted, and he felt more important - which has now led to two Premier League goals quicker than anyone could surely have expected - but they clearly didn't as well as Porto initially did. We already knew Perez had turned down Porto to come to Tyneside, but according to the man himself, he only turned them down when a small detail in his personal terms couldn't be ironed out.

€œI was very close to signing for FC Porto. But we could not reach an agreement on some small details. €œI had to think of a general perspective. Newcastle appreciated my game and therefore I chose to come to the Premier League. They made me feel important and that€™s what I picked.€

Seemingly, Porto couldn't offer Ayoze the kind of assurances of "importance" that Newcastle did. Presumably that meant a promise of getting close to the first team quicker - an inspired move by the Magpies negotiating team. The Chronicle - who ran the story - have also added Borussia Dortmund to the long line of suitors who tried to prize the award winning attacker away from Tenerife in the summer, and though he was clearly set on joining Porto, it's still a massive coup for Newcastle to have signed him in the end. And thank God for small details: Porto's loss is no definitely going to be Newcastle's gain.