Six years ago, Newcastle United signed Luuk De Jong on loan – and his half-season stint at St James’ Park was a bit of a car crash.
He arrived as a talented striker who’d previously been scoring goals for fun in Holland before a difficult spell in Germany with Borussia Monchengladbach.
The problem was, Alan Pardew proceeded to play him as a no.10 – a role which unsurprisingly didn’t suit him well at all, seeing him fail to score in 12 appearances for the club.
Fast forward to 2020 and the 29-year-old has just scored two brilliant headers for Sevilla in their Europa League final clash with Inter Milan, helping them to a 3-2 win and their fourth European title in seven years!
Here’s his stunning second – a header right out of the top draw – followed by his thumping equaliser that drew Sevilla level after Lukaku’s early opener:
Two brilliant bits of forward play from a striker who’s done pretty well for himself since that forgettable six months on Tyneside.
If we’re being honest, he didn’t actually look all that suited to English football way back in 2014, but Pardew playing him just off the striker didn’t help!
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Flop? 2 words – Serge Gnabry
LDJ has archived more since leaving this mediocre team.
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