Wijnaldum - 'I'm Devastated My Goals Didn't Keep Us Up'

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Georginio Wijnaldum ended the campaign as Newcastle's top scorer - but has spoken of his disappointment that his 11 goals weren't enough to keep United in the Premier League.

The Dutch midfielder netted twice against Tottenham on the final day of the season and, while they were his first strikes since January, reaching double figures from midfield in his first term at St. James' Park was no mean feat from the former PSV Eindhoven man.

All of his goals came at Gallowgate and highlights included his opening day header against Southampton, a superbly-taken dink in the 2-0 win over Liverpool in December and a four-goal haul in a 6-2 win over Norwich City.

However, Wijnaldum told nufcTV: "In your first season, if you can score 11 goals it gives you confidence - but I'm devastated that my goals didn't help the Club to survive.

"That's the feeling that I have right now and I think that's the feeling that will stay for a long time.

"It's difficult to be happy if you're relegated; I scored goals but they don't have a meaning any more because we are relegated. I've never played in this situation. I feel how it is to score but it will not help the team to survive, so I'm sad about that.

"Of course, I'm satisfied that we won against Tottenham; it was a big win, 5-1, but I'm still not happy because we were relegated."

The 25-year-old - who agreed a five-year contract when he joined Newcastle last summer - added: "I think it was the best performance from us this season because we played a good first half and a good second half. Normally it's a good first half or a good second half but (on Sunday) it was the whole game.

"We played a good game but it's difficult to be happy because we are relegated. Normally after winning a game, you're happy - but if you look at the whole season, we lose."

You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Georginio Wijnaldum here