Newcastle United Sign De Jong

2 July 2014, 05:20 | Updated: 2 July 2014, 05:23

Newcastle United have completed the signing of Ajax captain Siem de Jong.

The 25-year-old Dutch international attacking midfielder has moved to Tyneside for an undisclosed fee, signing a six-year deal at St. James' Park.

De Jong, who can also operate as a striker, came through the youth system at Ajax before making his debut in September 2007.

Since then, the four-time Eredivisie champion has appeared almost 250 times for the Dutch giants, scoring 78 goals, and was appointed their captain in the summer of 2012.

De Jong, whose younger brother Luuk spent six months on loan at Newcastle during the 2013/14 campaign, has also played in the Champions League and Europa League.

Despite being Switzerland-born, de Jong made his international debut for Holland in August 2010 and was part of the Netherlands' provisional squad for Euro 2012. To date, he has six senior caps, scoring two goals.

He said:
"It is great to have signed for Newcastle.

It is a big club which my brother told me all about, so I already feel good here.

I had been at Ajax a long time and wanted a new challenge in a new environment and a new country.

Coming to Newcastle is a great opportunity and the chance to play for a club like this in the Premier League was one I could not turn down.

I am looking forward to starting training and meeting my new teammates and hopefully we can have a successful season."

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew added:
"We are absolutely overjoyed to bring Siem to the Club because he will give us intelligence in the final third and create goalscoring situations, which we lacked towards the end of last season.

It is a big signing for this Club. Siem brings massive experience from Ajax, I think our fans are going to enjoy the way he plays and I cannot wait to start working with him."