£6.5m midfielder reveals he snubbed Arsenal, West Ham & Leeds to complete Newcastle United transfer

Kieron Dyer admitted he was 'naive' when he joined Newcastle United from Ipswich Town in 1999.

Dyer was targeted by several Premier League clubs after impressing for Ipswich as a youngster but Newcastle won the race, agreeing a £6.5million deal. The now 45-year-old went on to make 250 appearances for The Magpies, scoring 36 goals.

Reflecting on the move, the 33-time England international told talkSPORT: "We had Richard Wright, myself, James Scowcroft and David Johnson – really good young players so the director’s box was full of scouts and it was always in the paper that we were probably going to be leaving that summer, so it was kind of expected.

"I remember coming back from pre-season and [manager] George Burley pulls me into the office and says ‘we haven’t received any offers that we want to accept so if you start the season with us you have to get your head down’. I said ‘yeah, of course’.

“Then we finished training and someone said ‘the gaffer wants to see you in his office’ and I go there and he says ‘we’ve just accepted an offer for £6.5million, so you need to go now’.

"I had to drive to Stansted Airport and meet my agent before flying to Newcastle, but if I’d have been a bit more wise I probably wouldn’t have ended up in Newcastle.

"At the time, Arsenal wanted me with Arsene Wenger, I spoke to David O’Leary and Leeds on the phone, I spoke to Harry Redknapp who was manager of West Ham at the time."

While Dyer did play in the Champions League for Newcastle and helped the club reach a few semi-finals, his eight-year stint on Tyneside ultimately ended without any major success. Meanwhile, Arsenal enjoyed arguably the greatest spell in their recent history, winning the Premier League twice, FA Cup three times and reaching the Champions League final.

The Gunners 2003-04 Premier League win is famous for the side going through the whole league campaign without losing a match under Arsene Wenger.

And with the benefit of hindsight, Dyer admits he would have liked to join Arsenal instead of Newcastle.

“If I’d have known what I know now, I’d have said ‘I want to wait a bit’ and seen if Arsenal or Leeds would have increased their bid because I had the chance to be a part of the Invincibles squad," he added.

"Because you’re so young and naive – plus my agent told me what Newcastle were offering – it was like ‘off we go’, sort of thing. You don’t really know because you have no experience.”

Dyer left Newcastle in 2007 to join West Ham but his spell in East London was hampered by injury as he made just 35 appearances over four seasons. He briefly returned to Ipswich on loan during the 2010-11 season before joining Queens Park Rangers and then Middlesbrough before retiring from playing.

Following his retirement, Dyer has taken up coaching roles at Ipswich and Chesterfield while also pursuing media work.