Newcastle United attacker Callum Wilson has explained why he turned down Aston Villa.

Wilson has been with the club for the past three years, having arrived under Steve Bruce.

The attacker spoke about the joy of wearing the number nine shirt for the Magpies, which inspired him to move to Newcastle instead of Villa at the time.

“For me, I had a decision to make when I joined Newcastle," he told the Footballer's Football podcast.

“There was Aston Villa, there was Newcastle, and Newcastle has a great history. Basically, the number nine shirt and playing as the striker and how much they are worshiped up here definitely appealed to me.

“There were times when you have joined a club for the decisions, you write down the pros and the cons of why you are joining that club and you stick by them. Don't get me wrong, I joined Newcastle when they were in a relegation battle and scraping the bottom of the league, not playing attractive football.

“Aston Villa was another interested club at the time. They had just been taken over and they were starting to fly, things were going well there. We played against them and we lost, and everyone was saying, 'That could have been you, why didn't you join us?'

“I thought to myself, I made the decision at that moment based on the facts that were in front of me. No matter what is going on right now, I stuck to my soul and my core decisions. That's what I did and, ultimately, football is a crazy sport.

“We end up getting taken over, things start to go well here, we get Champions League and get to play there for the first time. Then, we played against Villa and beat them 5-1, so it's crazy how football works."