Sven Botman has vowed to repay Newcastle United after the Magpies unveiled the Dutchman as the club's most expensive defender of all-time.
Botman has completed his move to Newcastle from Lille for a fee of around £31m plus add-ons after the formalities of the transfer were concluded on Friday. The highly-rated centre-back passed a medical earlier this week and signed a five-year deal before resuming his holiday in Spain.
Although a switch to AC Milan also appealed to Botman, the 22-year-old's dream was to play in the Premier League and, tellingly, he was even previously willing to swap life in the Champions League with Lille for an immediate relegation battle with the Magpies in January. Lille, however, did not want to let Botman go in the mid-season window.
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Newcastle eventually reached a breakthrough in talks last week and, rather than holding out for MIlan, Botman wanted to sample the club's 'great project'. Now Botman is desperate to repay the faith Newcastle have shown in him when others may have been a little daunted by the price tag.
“I don’t want to think about that at all," he told De Telegraaf about the fee. "This is how the football world has developed and how the transfer market works at the moment.
“I cannot help that and hopefully I’m still that boy from Badhoevedorp. That €40m does indicate how much Newcastle United wanted me. That gives confidence and it is now up to me to repay that.”
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