Qarabag shot stopper Andrey Lunev has revealed he turned down the chance to play for Newcastle United.
The goalkeeper was wanted by the Magpies when he was at Bayer Leverkusen.
Having played for the German club between 2021 and 2023, he eventually moved to Azerbaijan.
"Would I like to play in England? Very (much)," he told Sport24.
"There was an option when I was at Bayer. One friend said that there was an opportunity to go to Newcastle and be the third or fourth (choice) goalkeeper there.
"He told me that they have two experienced goalkeepers and are missing a third goalkeeper. They just took Karius, I refused. If you play in Azerbaijan and in European competitions, then of course it's better to play in Qarabag than to sit as the third or fourth goalkeeper in Newcastle.
"I'm almost 33 years old, so I still want to play football. Perhaps, at 36 years old, you will want to look at England. Then you can sit on the bench and watch!"