Swansea City’s Neil Taylor commits future to club & ends transfer dispute with Newcastle

Neil Taylor of Swansea City

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Swansea City defender Neil Taylor has killed off weeks of speculation over his future by signing a four-year deal with the club – ending Newcastle United‘s interest in the player.

The Welshman has been a target of the Magpies for weeks, and Alan Pardew’s club tabled a £1 million-plus offer for the defender, only for both parties to be confused about whether his buy-out clause had been reached.

Newcastle believed that, once a £1m bid had been launched, they would be free to sign the player should he agree terms. However, Swansea insisted that such an offer would only allow the club to speak with the player, and that the Welsh club were under no obligation to accept a deal.

The left-back’s representatives had contacted the Premier League in an attempt to solve the disagreement, but Taylor has since signed a new deal to stay at the Liberty Stadium.

He told the club’s official website: “This has been the hardest month of my life.

“There has been so much written and said about me that was untrue it really hurt at times.

“The reason I haven’t said anything until now is because I had an agreement with the club that nobody would speak to the media until an agreement on a new contract had been reached.

“It’s dragged on longer than everyone expected because I’ve been on holiday; the chairman Huw Jenkins has been on holiday and the manager (Brendan Rodgers) has been away.

“I read somewhere a few weeks back that I had been ignoring the manager’s phone calls.

“Considering he was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro at the time, it’s difficult to get a phone signal 19,000 feet up a mountain!

“One headline even said ‘sell me or I will sue’, which is a strange one considering I haven’t given a quote to anyone until now.”

The defender admitted that he had spoken to Newcastle, but was willing to stay at Swansea.

He added: “Yes, I was flattered at Newcastle’s interest and I spoke to them after Swansea gave me permission.

“I think most players would because they are a massive club and I was interested to see what they had to say. 

“But if I was desperate to go, I would have pushed for it, but I know I’ve got everything going for me here at Swansea.

“I’ve got one of the best young managers in Europe to learn from and develop; we’ve got a great squad that can do well in the Premier League; a style of football that I love and the envy of a lot of clubs; plus some fantastic fans.

“I had a lot of support from the fans and the club after I was sent-off in the play-offs at Nottingham Forest, which I will never forget.

“I know some people have seen me and the agency as villains over the last few weeks, but I hope when everyone knows the full facts they will change their opinion.

“Apart from the last month, this has been the best year of my life, on and off the field, because I love the football, the area and the people.

“This is the football club where I want to be and the decision to sign a new contract was quite an easy one to make.

“It’s just disappointing that everything has been blown out of all proportion.

“Now I just want to put everything behind me and help Swansea City and the fans be a success in the Premier League.”