Back in February, I wrote an article – which you can read here – suggesting Joelinton had between now and the end of the season to save his Newcastle career.
Our injury woes had mounted as Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Miggy Almiron were all set for spells on the treatment table. Our blonde-haired Brazilian had been granted yet another opportunity to stake his claim on Tyneside.
Well, time’s up Joe, and it’s not good news.
Toon fans have endured two years of tragedy since Mike Ashley brazenly splashed out £40m to secure a man who had bagged just seven league goals for Hoffenheim the previous year.
Despite rejecting Rafa Benitez’s calls to snap up £16m Salomon Rondon, Ashley took a punt on an unproven 22-year old; every Newcastle fan in the land would tell him now that was a monumental mistake.
Joelinton, to his credit, hit his finest run of form yet for us in the season’s closing stages, bagging goals in three consecutive home games against Spurs, West Ham and Man City.
However, his contributions were overshadowed by another Joe: Arsenal loanee and midfield talisman Joe Willock.
The Gunners youngster hit an explosive purple patch to net eight times in 14 games – including bagging seven in a row – to become a cult hero among supporters that are now drooling at the possibility of a return next season.
To put things into context, in just four-and-a-bit months, Willock has scored more goals than Joelinton has managed in his entire two years at Newcastle.
Reports suggest that our transfer kitty is tight this summer, with the Daily Mail saying we have just £12m to bolster our squad. If resources are thin, then why don’t we recoup some of the wasted £40m and put it to good use by bringing in Willock?
For his own benefit, Joelinton needs a clean slate and to be playing football away from NUFC; the pressures of playing on Tyneside – while wearing that number nine shirt – is clearly mounting heavy on his shoulders.
Almost two years have passed and we still don’t know what this guy’s best position is. A striker? A winger? A number 10? Literally, nobody out there could say so with any real conviction.
It’s hard to analyse what attributes he has so we could pinpoint where he should play. Joelinton doesn’t score goals, isn’t strong in the air, can’t beat a man and doesn’t have the eye for a killer pass.
If a sensible offer comes in for him, we have to snap their hands off and take it. Hoffenheim must be laughing all the way to the bank after conning us out of forty million quid and, if anybody wants to stump up a decent fee, we must do the same.
If money is tight this summer; Joelinton’s wages and price tag could conjure up some much-needed cash for a player who would have a big impact on our fortunes next season.
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Another surprisingly clueless article.
This season Joelinton hit a seam of form that had fans wondering if we were actually witnessing a transformation, perhaps the big lad was going to reach his potential?
The goals didn’t arrive but he contributed more to the teams success, putting himself about.
As it stands, if we dumped him now we would take a huge hit. I’d guess we’d have offers around the 15 million mark at best. Who wants a big forward who can’t score.
It would make more sense to give him another season to see if the improvements continue and he finally figures out the Prem. Another season to see if he can hit the kind of form that might get us another 10 million or more in the price.
Anybody remember what a complete crock Coloccini was when he arrived? It took him a couple of seasons to figure out that Spain and England were different. Joelinton is just getting the hang of it.
As for Hoffenheim conning us out of 40 million – did we con Liverpool with Carroll? Did we con Spurs with Sissoko? Did we con Leicester with Perez?
No they made an offer and we took it. How do you “con” a team when they can watch video of every ball the player has ever kicked in competition?
Joe Willock played 40 times in the Prem for the **** and scored once. At that point we could have had him for 10 million.
4 months later he’s scored 7 goals in 7 matches and now we’re looking at 30 million plus.
Don’t be a ****. I’m not a huge fan of Joelinton and can’t understand why Bruce had such difficulty putting him on the bench, but from a business point of view you have to improve him to increase his market value.
BykerBill(Quote)
I’m of the opinion he might just come good with confidence / time / a better coach, but it’s a blog so let’s respect people’s opinions – even if they don’t match up with ours?
Olly Hawkins(Quote)