Andros Townsend joins Newcastle: 'I may be a bargain at £12m'
The winger 'holds no grudges' with Spurs' manager Maurico Pochettino
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Your support makes all the difference.Andros Townsend insisted he has the potential to be a bargain despite becoming the most expensive player Newcastle have signed from an English club since Alan Shearer 20 years ago.
Newcastle paid £12 million to Tottenham for the England winger on Wednesday, as their spending spree to guarantee Premier League football next season continued. The fee could rise further.
The club has spent £30 million in the current transfer window and still intend to sign a centre forward before it closes at the start of next week.
Townsend, now 24, said: "Of course £12 million is a lot of money. I know that, but if I can reach my potential and play to the ability I know I have, then I am sure as quicikly as people are saying it is a lot of money, they will be saying it is a bargain.
“Football, I know has its ups and downs. It turns so quick. If I put in a few good performances, it will look like money well spent and that is what I am solely looking to do, play as well as I can.
"I have faith in my own ability. I am the same player and the same person that did break on to the scene a few years ago and was tipped as a big England prospect. I was an integral part for club and country.
“I have not played that run of games, nine or ten games since 2013. I have had a chance to do that. I know it is a different level with the Under 21s but I have had seven games in six weeks so I am fully fit for the first time in a long while. I am in the best shape of my life and injury free and hoping Newcastle will benefit from that.
"I am not looking to get back to where I was. I am looking to become an even better player. I do not look back, I always look forward and feel I am more mature than I was back then."
Townsend, who was training and playing at Under-21 level with Spurs before the move to Tyneside, refused to criticise Mauricio Pochettino.
"I think the manager has a 25 man squad and can only play 11 and seven for the bench and he has obviously had no problem with me on a personal level,” he added. “He made his decision professionally which obviously I do not agree with, but Tottenham are flying high in the Premier League, I can't really argue with him. I hold no grudges with the manager.
“England is not an extra motivation. My motivation is being the best player I can possibly be so that Newcastle can finish as high up the table as possible. If I am the best player I can be, then the England stuff will come off the back of that, but if I go onto the pitch thinking, 'Oh, I really want to get in the England squad', then that is disrespectful to Newcastle and to myself.”
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