Luuk De Jong’s loan deal has not paid dividends for the club or the player.
In January Newcastle United made a mockery of the Transfer Window. They sold their best player, the glue that held the dressing room together, and did not replace him. But they did bring in a striker.
But watch this video below, as it is now something of a relic.
That is Newcastle’s January loan signing Luuk De Jong scoring his most recent club goal – on the 13th April 2013!
De Jong has not scored a club goal since he netted in a 1-0 win against soon to be relegated Bundesliga rivals Greuther Furth over a year ago. He has since gone on to play 30 games without scoring a goal at club level goal (although he did score for Holland at last summer’s European under-21 Championship).
And now, as his loan spell comes to an end, he has failed to score during his time on the Tyne.
The Dutch international rejected a host of Premier League teams when he signed for Borussia Monchengladbach for €15 million in July 2012. However it just seems he has lost the knack of scoring. A once bolted on place in the Dutch squad for the World Cup has now vanished and finding somewhere to play his football next season may be a challenge in itself – he will need to find someone like Kinnear to give him a go.
That being said, he is very talented – and boasted a scoring record of 32 goals in 50 games during his final season with FC Twente in 2011-12.
His future therefore cannot be entirely bleak, talent remains, but it just needs to be unearthed once again.
Despite not scoring, Newcastle are said to be considering a move for the player in the summer as they have an agreed fee with his parent club.
But signing somebody who has not scored in over a year would hardly impress Newcastle’s already rowdy fans.
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