Ki Sung-yueng reveals his view on his position situation at Newcastle '“ as Jonjo Shelvey pushes for return

The midfielder made only his third Premier League start for the club in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth at St James’s Park.

Ki, signed on a free transfer in the summer, had come off the bench in the previous weekend’s 1-0 win over Watford after Jonjo Shelvey suffered a calf injury.

“If I say it wasn’t hard in the first few months, it would be a lie,” said the 29-year-old.

“I waited for my chance at this club, because this is an amazing club. It was a difficult time, but I have settled down now, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

“I’m playing better. I still think there’s more from me to come. I want to concentrate on my performance every single game, because we have good players in my position.

“I want to keep my place. Sometimes you can get injuries and suspensions, so I just want to keep going forward.”

The Bournemouth win lifted the club up to 14th place.

“It was a massive game for us, because we won last week and we wanted to maintain our winning performance,” said Ki.

“We needed points, so to beat Bournemouth, a very good team, is good for us.

“We dominated the game. Part of the game we gave them chances, but overall we did brilliantly to get the win. We have to maintain our performance – it’s still only two wins. We need more points.

“They’re a very good team. We handled the game very well, with Rondon in particular doing well up front. We have more confidence now – that will help against Burnley.”

Ki – who went to the summer’s World Cup in Russia with South Korea – is not going away over the international break.

“I’m not going away this time,” said Ki. “I’m not sure if the break will helps us.

“It can help to keep going when you are starting to win, but maybe it helps us too to take days off think about what we have done well and how we can improve.”