Source: Northern_Echo
Gosling confident United will become high-fliers
DAN GOSLING has joined Newcastle United because he envisages the club becoming an established top-six side[LNB] over the course of his fouryear contract.[LNB] Gosling finally completed his protracted move to Tyneside on Thursday after his former club, Everton, decided not to appeal against a Premier League tribunal ruling that enabled the midfielder to move for nothing as a free agent.[LNB] With Gosling's previous contract at Goodison Park having expired, the England Under-21 international spoke to a number of clubs including Bolton and West Ham.[LNB] But having listened to Magpies manager Chris Hughton outline his long-term vision for the club, he quickly concluded that Newcastle offered the best prospect of success.[LNB] It was a football decision,[LNB] said Gosling, who is not expected to make his Newcastle debut for another four months as he continues his recovery from a cruciate ligament injury sustained in March.[LNB] I spoke to a few managers and looked at the training ground and facilities of quite a few clubs, but when I came here, I was impressed straight away.[LNB] The manager has a vision of where he wants this club to go. I came up with my agent and my family, met him and Colin Calderwood, and we sat down and talked about how we'd like the next few years to go.[LNB] He told us where he wants us to be, and I want to be a part of that. I think the longterm aim is to establish ourselves as a top-six Premier League team in the next four or five years. I think it's a realistic aim, and hopefully we can do it a bit sooner than that.[LNB] Despite only having turned 20 in February, Newcastle are already Gosling's third professional employers.[LNB] The midfielder emerged from the youth system at Plymouth Argyle and made 24 senior appearances for his hometown club.[LNB] He moved to Everton for £2m in 2008 and played in 37 senior games for the Toffees, scoring six goals that included a last-minute FA Cup winner over Liverpool that was famously missed by ITV when they switched to an advert break.[LNB] His time on Merseyside ended acrimoniously, with a wrangle over his contractual situation souring his relationship with David Moyes and the Everton board.[LNB] This week's move to Newcastle represents a new start, and having signed a four-year deal, Gosling is determined his nomadic lifestyle is now at an end.[LNB] It would be nice to get a bit of stability now, he said.[LNB] This is my third professional club at the age of 20 and I don't want to be moving around as much for the rest of my career.[LNB] It's been a strange ride so far, but hopefully I'll be here for the long haul, witnessing a transformation in the team and the club over the next few years.[LNB] He will have to regain full fitness first, though, and while he is hoping to embark on some light running before the start of the season, he will not be featuring in Newcastle's first team until late November at the earliest.[LNB] It would be stupid to rush back, said Gosling. I've been injured for a while now, but I just have to work hard and get back that way.[LNB] I think I'll be jogging over the next week or so and then we'll see how things go from there.[LNB] While Gosling continued to acquaint himself with Newcastle's Darsley Park training ground, the rest of the United squad travelled to Norwich yesterday ahead of this afternoon's pre-season game against the Canaries.[LNB] Steven Taylor also remained on Tyneside, with fears rising that the centrehalf's shoulder injury will keep him out of next month's Premier League opener at Manchester United.[LNB]
