Siem de Jong has been speaking to Elf Voetbal about his time at Newcastle, and it sounds like he’s a bit regretful about leaving Tyneside.
What’s the story?
Well, Newcastle signed the Dutchman from Ajax in 2014, tying him down to a six-year contract in what looked to be an exciting signing.
However, De Jong was incredibly unfortunate at St James’ Park.
The 32-year-old suffered a number of freak injuries, including a collapsed lung.
Additionally, De Jong nearly lost his sight after a bizarre training ground incident, in which he was poked in the eye (BBC).
He eventually left in 2017, having made just 26 appearances in three years, but he now seems to regret moving back to the Netherlands with PSV.
De Jong said: “When I went to Newcastle, I had in mind a development like Georginio Wijnaldum, but in the first year in England I was injured and the second year I was mainly used as a substitute.
“I had little patience and then immediately got myself out to PSV. It’s the only choice that sometimes makes me think: was it really that smart? Should I not have waited longer for my chance?”
It’s sad to hear that De Jong planned to emulate Gini Wijnaldum.
Were it not for the aforementioned freak injuries, he may well have made a similar impact to the Paris Saint-Germain maestro at Newcastle.
Newcastle and Siem de Jong just didn’t click
De Jong shouldn’t be too hard on himself – there were many reasons why an exit from Newcastle made sense at the time.
He scored just two goals and provided one assist in his 26 appearances for the Magpies, and just didn’t seem suited to English football.
It made plenty of sense to return to the Eredivisie, where he was among the most impressive players in Europe at Ajax.
De Jong – brother of former Newcastle man Luuk de Jong – scored 88 goals and provided 52 assists in 277 games for Ajax, so you can understand why he wanted to go back to the Netherlands.
Of course, had he stayed another year and impressed, his career may have turned out differently.
However, that didn’t look likely to happen, and it made sense for De Jong to leave and not waste anymore of his career on Tyneside.
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