Newcastle United defender Daryl Janmaat has been named North East Player of the Year.

Janmaat and Newcastle team-mate Ayoze Perez, who is young player of 2015, will be at the Ramside Hall Hotel in Durham on Sunday to collect their awards from the North East Football Writers.

He said: “I was a little bit surprised to win it. I have seen the names of past winners and it is a big thing and a huge honour for me.

"It has been a funny year. We haven't played the best as a team and we have not won many matches so it feels a bit strange to win the award. And it has been a difficult time with the national team too because we didn't qualify for Euro 2016.

“Missing out on the finals is not normal for us and we have to look forward to qualifying for the World Cup in Russia now."