'Not easy' - Anthony Gordon breaks silence on Liverpool talks after extending Newcastle United contract

The 23-year-old headed into the summer full of confidence after his 12 goals and 11 assists saw him win the Magpies’ Player of the Season award.

But when he returned to Tyneside ahead of the new Premier League campaign, Gordon was unsettled. The winger barely kicked a ball for England at Euro 2024 and was caught up in the club’s mad dash to comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

United went on to offload both Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively, though Amanda Staveley later admitted to The Athletic that she and club feared selling Gordon and Alexander Isak.

It’s understood Newcastle held talks with Liverpool and following a slow start to the season, some had wondered if Gordon had his head turned. But the former Everton man has rubbished such talk after extending his stay at St James’ Park.

“The perception was that because I didn’t start well that all the speculation was true when in reality I just wasn’t very fit,” Gordon told NUFCTV.

“It’s been quite a hard summer for me, even just getting back to myself... I was sat on the bench the whole summer so it wasn’t easy for me mentally and physically. It took me a couple of games to get back into the swing of things, it’s probably still going I never had any doubt I’d start to pick up and get fitter.

Geordie Journos on ShotsTV! Is Eddie Howe under pressure at Newcastle United?

“The more I played in this team the more confident I feel. It’s just about getting that back and getting used to playing our style again.”

“Yeah, it’s not easy because sometimes your perception from the outside can be guided by information people read and a lot of it is not true, some might be true but a lot of the time it’s not,” Gordon added.

“Me knowing this [new contract] was in process and waiting for it to get out there has been hard for me because I’ve wanted to do it for a long time but as I say it’s been quite complicated.

“Everyone knows I’m committed, which I always have been. I’m happy.”

On head coach Eddie Howe, Gordon said: “I spoke to him a lot over the summer, he was very good and just trying to make the process easier for me by having honest conversations with me - he didn’t want it to be a season where because of all the speculation and nonsense affected me for too long.

“I think he knew it would affect me for a length of time but it was about just cutting that down as much as we possibly could, and I feel like three or four bad games is not the worst after the summer!”