Newcastle United striker Joelinton has still scored just one league goal.
According to The Chronicle, Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez refused to let the club spend £40million on Joelinton this time last year.
It’s claimed that Newcastle had a £40million deal lined up with Hoffenheim this time last year, but Benitez refused to sign off on it as he didn’t want the Brazilian.
When Benitez left the club in the summer, it was no great surprise that Newcastle resurrected the deal for Joelinton and brought him in, with Benitez out of the picture.
Now, they may be wishing that they didn’t strike that deal, as the 22-year-old has managed just one Premier League goal this season, and that came back in August.
There is another interesting line in that report though, and it’s that Newcastle scouts actually really liked Joelinton when they saw him playing as a left-sided attacker for Hoffenheim.
Joelinton has been used as a target man for much of the season without much success, but Steve Bruce may finally be agreeing with the verdict of the Newcastle scouts.
Bruce started Joelinton on the left flank in Saturday’s game against Burnley, switching his system to use Dwight Gayle up front instead of Joelinton.
Newcastle may have regrets about splashing such a huge fee on the struggling attacker, but if Bruce now believes that the scouts were right and Joelinton is actually more of a left-sided forward, then maybe he could start to turn in better performances.
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