10 Exceptional Players Newcastle United Should Never Have Turned Down

4. Aaron Lennon & Andros Townsend

It's hard to tell how much of what comes out of Alan Pardew's mouth is based in actual fact when it comes to transfer endeavours, but according to the beleaguered Newcastle manager, he was offered two England players from Spurs and turned both down because he had enough. This summer, media reports said Pardew turned down the chance to sign Aaron Lennon, who Spurs wanted out because they had too many wingers and he was presumably being paid too much to look grumpy on the bench. A number of clubs were mentioned as in talks, but Newcastle seemingly turned the opportunity down - perhaps because of those wages - and Lennon remains at White Hart Lane now. More frustratingly, in the summer of 2013, Alan Pardew admitted to Goals On Sunday that he had been looking at Andros Townsend, but had ultimately decided against a loan move, because he was no better than Jonas and Gabriel Obertan. Because, as already established, a lot of the things that come out of Pardew's mouth are from the realms of fancy and fiction.