Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce says he "never contemplated" allowing reported Nottingham Forest target Jacob Murphy to leave this summer.
The Reds were one of a number of clubs linked with the winger, who spent last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday.
But he ended up staying with the Magpies and helped them earn a point at Wolves at the weekend, with his first Premier League goal in nearly three years.
Murphy's late free-kick cancelled out Raul Jimenez’s fourth goal of the season to grab a 1-1 draw.
His last top-flight strike came in January 2018 and he has since had loan spells at West Brom and the Owls after struggling to make a consistent breakthrough following his move from Norwich City in 2017.
But Bruce praised his impact after playing him out of position at wing-back due to Newcastle's injury problems.
“He was arguably our best player today and I’m delighted for him. He had a big loan at Sheffield Wednesday last year and that did him the world of good," the manager said.
“I never contemplated it (a loan move) from the first week he was back. He was a different player. Certainly physically he’s come back in really good condition.
“We all know he’s a good athlete and he certainly looks like he’s matured. He had been practicing free-kicks on Thursday in training and I was thinking ‘let’s see if he can do it again’.
“The development is there for everybody to see. Now it was about ‘can he come and perform at this level?’. He was certainly comfortable.
“I’m delighted with the resilience of the players especially with the problems we had, lot of players were out of position.”
