DONE DEAL: Townsend joins Newcastle for £12M

Andros Townsend has joined Newcastle United for
an undisclosed fee, believed to be £12m, from
Tottenham Hotspur on a five-and-a-half year
contract.

The deal is a risk for Steve McClaren as Townsend
has not completed 90 minutes for Spurs for almost
two years and has seen only 64 minutes of Premier
League action this season.

The England winger has been training with the
under-21s for the past two and a half months after
being frozen out by Mauricio Pochettino in the
wake of his public spat with Nathan Gardiner,
Tottenham’s fitness coach, following a win against
Aston Villa in November.

He is clearly delighted to be seizing the lifeline
thrown from St James’ Park. “As soon as I heard
Newcastle were interested in me there was only
one place I wanted to go,” said the 24-year-old,
who has 10 England caps. “I can’t wait to get
started. I’m delighted to be here. Newcastle United
is a fantastic club with great fans, a great stadium
and great tradition.

“Two of the best positions you can play in football
are centre-forward and left wing at Newcastle.
Now I’ve got the chance I couldn’t turn them
down. I can’t wait to play my first game at St
James’ Park. I’m excited.”

With Newcastle in the bottom three, he steps
straight into a relegation fight, although the club’s
cause has been helped by the arrival of Jonjo
Shelvey for £12m from Swansea and Henri Saivet,
recently acquired from Bordeaux for £4.5m.

After persuading Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner,
to invest heavily in British players in the shape of
Shelvey and Townsend, McClaren appears to have
succeeded where Alan Pardew failed and won a
significant behind-the-scenes victory.

“Bringing Andros to the club is a great signing,”
said McClaren, whose side lost 6-0 to Sunderland in
a behind-closed-doors friendly at the Stadium of
Light on Wednesday. “He’s a very good talent who
is a current England international and should be
one for years to come too.

“Andros is a winger with an old fashioned style. He
can play on the right or the left, is two-footed,
quick, very direct and loves taking defenders on
and crossing the ball. He feels he has a lot to prove
and I can’t wait to see him do it in a Newcastle
shirt.”