Newcastle United hero Nobby Solano has revealed he rejected Liverpool for a second stint at St. James' Park.

Solano left for Aston Villa in 2004 after six seasons with the Magpies, before eventually returning thanks to some coercion from his old teammates.

Speaking to FourFourTwo, Solano said: "To be honest, I never wanted to leave. But at the time Bobby Robson was a little bit funny with me, so I told my agent that I wanted to play football.

"I was driving back to Newcastle when I had a call from one of Rafa Benitez's assistants.

"But I'd already spoken to Alan Shearer and Stevie Harper, who said, 'You've got to come back.' So that was that."