Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew is proud to see Ayoze Perez justify their summer pursuit of his signature.

Barcelona and Real Madrid had been interested in signing the Spain Under-21 forward before Newcastle moved to bring him to Tyneside last June.

And Pardew reflected: "He won player of the year last season in the Spanish Second Division, so it's not a complete mystery.

"But we worked hard on his signature and worked hard on his family to give him the platform that we would give him an opportunity.

"We put a lot of physical work into him. It's not bulk he needs, because agility is a massive part of his game, it's just body strength and he has that."