England international Anthony Gordon has opened up about leaving Everton for Newcastle United on deadline day in January 2023.
Reports suggested that the 23-year-old tried to force a move to the Magpies by refusing to play for Everton.
Gordon has now opened up on the situation in a talk with Gary Neville on, what some regarded as one of the best football podcasts, The Overlap
Gordon explained on the The Overlap podcast: “The whole process was difficult. You said I am mentally strong, but I think that has played a massive part of me being who I am now. I am very thankful, but it was so hard at the time. Liverpool’s biggest unity is everyone being together, Scousers looking after Scousers.
“And for someone to leave that environment, nobody is going to like it, and rightly so, but ultimately, I am too ambitious to turn down the opportunity which was presented to me.
“Newcastle were only going one way and looking from the outside they were flying, I think they were fourth when I was signing, so it’s a no brainer. My ambition is to be at the very top of football and I couldn’t do that where I was.”
Neville asked: “How it ended didn’t have to be like that, the statement – I don’t even know what you would call the statement they put out – it was small. It was almost as if they were playing to the crowd, Anthony wants to leave, we have let him go, almost like they were discarding you a little bit. It didn’t have to be like that, surely?”
Anthony Gordon replied: “It didn’t. That’s the thing: a lot of what you see in the media is club-driven, and I didn’t care too much to change the perspective because I’m very comfortable in myself and how it ended up, and ultimately, I got what I wanted. I joined Newcastle.
“I did want to leave, but also, the club did have to sell me. The way it played out was that I was desperate to leave and that was never really the case, I just wanted to fulfil my ambitions. But I never was bothered about wanting to change people’s minds, if they believe what they read, it’s fine by me.”
