Newcastle's Ayoze Perez reveals how close he came to joining Tottenham amid interest from Man United

Perez has scored three goals in his the club’s last three games to fire Rafa Benitez’s side to Premier League safety.

Newcastle are 10th in the table ahead of Monday night’s game against ninth-placed Everton at Goodison Park.

Perez was once a target for Tottenham Hotspur, while he was also on the radar of Manchester United.

However, for the moment, the 24-year-old is “happy” at St James’s Park.

“I’m very comfortable in Newcastle,” said Perez. “It’s the club that has given me the opportunity to play 100 games in the Premier League.

“I’m happy, and in the long term I do not know what will happen.”

Asked about previous interest in him from Tottenham and Man United, Perez told AS: “In the end it (a move to Tottenham) did not happen. It was a couple of seasons ago.

“Man United was more interest than anything else, but the Tottenham was pretty close. In the end, it did not come to anything, but staying here was not negative.

“I enjoyed a lot in the second division. It made me improve in many ways, and I was happy.”

Perez, signed from Tenerife as an unknown in the summer of 2014, is also happy to continue working with Benitez.

“We’re very happy with him, because the team has improved a lot since his arrival,” said Perez.

On his international ambitions with Spain, he added: “That’s a dream that I still have there. It would be nice to fulfil the dream of wearing the shirt of the national team.”