Sven Botman has revealed that Newcastle United's 'great project' and the chance to fulfil his dream of playing in the Premier League convinced him that a move to St James' Park felt 'better' than joining AC Milan.
Newcastle have agreed a deal in principle to sign the highly-rated Lille centre-back, who has put pen to paper on a five-year deal. The formalities of the transfer will be concluded this week after Botman passed a medical on Monday.
Botman had always been Newcastle's number one target and the Magpies, of course, attempted to sign the 22-year-old in January. Although Newcastle were languishing in 19th place at the time, tellingly, Botman was willing to swap life in the Champions League with Lille for an immediate relegation battle at Newcastle because of the club's long-term ambitions.
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However, Lille did not want to sell Botman in the mid-season window and Jocelyn Gourvennec, Botman's manager at the time, told ChronicleLive that the Dutchman was 'a little bit disturbed because he didn't know if he had to accept that'. However, Gourvennec did tell Botman that 'if you have Newcastle now in January, you will have Newcastle in the summer' - and so it proved.
While AC Milan were interested, and a move to the Serie A champions naturally appealed to Botman, Newcastle were ultimately the only club to pay up and agree a deal in the region of £31m plus add-ons. The Italian media have tried to paint it differently, but that certainly did not come as a disappointment to Botman.
“Ultimately, Newcastle United’s great project, in combination with playing in the Premier League, was the deciding factor," he told De Telegraaf. “That last one has been a dream my whole life. AC Milan also gave me a good feeling, but Newcastle United felt just a little better in the end.
"I really wanted to go to Newcastle United in January, because I also heard, and that’s a cliché, I know, that a train like this doesn’t pass by very often. But the clubs couldn’t figure it out.
“And afterwards this might be better, because I can now experience a lot of preparation and I was able to say goodbye to Lille in a beautiful way. That club deserved it. Staying wasn’t a punishment for me in January either, because I knew there were two great Champions League games against Chelsea coming up."
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