Newcastle Forward Claims He Almost Left the Club to Join Tottenham a Couple of Seasons Ago

Newcastle United forward Ayoze Perez has come up trumps in recent weeks as the Magpies have accelerated away from the relegation zone, but he actually almost left the club a couple of seasons ago to join Tottenham.

The Spaniard has been a pivotal figure over the past few weeks for the club, scoring vital goals against Leicester, Huddersfield and Arsenal to help lift the club up to 10th in the Premier League on 41 points.

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It's been an indifferent campaign on a personal level for Perez, who has received some stick throughout the season from his own supporters, but at 24 the player still has room to develop and in 2018 he has begun to show flashes of his potential - scoring five goals and assisting on four others in the league.

Most fans will be relieved to see Perez performing to his true capabilities now, but the player has revealed he came 'pretty close' to leaving the club to join Spurs a couple of seasons ago.

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He told the Shields Gazzette: "In the end it [a move to Tottenham] did not happen. It was a couple of seasons ago. Man United was of more interest than anything else, but Tottenham was pretty close. In the end, it did not come to anything, but staying here was not negative. I enjoyed playing in the second division. It made me improve in many ways, and I was happy."

Newcastle are next in action against Everton on Monday, and Perez will be hoping to continue his rich vein of form to give the Toon Army even more of a reason to be thankful he didn't join Spurs.