Paul Scholes has admitted that he has ‘never seen’ such a turnaround from a player, after Joelinton’s brace during Newcastle United’s 3-0 win at Norwich City on Saturday.
The Premier League legend stated that Joelinton’s career at Newcastle was ‘dead and buried’, but he praised him for picking himself up from the canvas.
Prior to Eddie Howe replacing Steve Bruce in the St James’ Park dugout, Joelinton was a big-money struggling striker.
Fast forward to today and the 25-year-old is now a hard-hitting midfielder, who can dominate games in whichever way he likes.
It has been a truly remarkable rise from the Brazilian star and Scholes is truly amazed by what he is seeing, as he told Premier League Productions.
“If you have ever seen a player turnaround his career at a club, I have never seen anything like this,” said Scholes. “He was dead and buried playing as a centre-forward.
“Then Eddie (Howe) brought him in as a midfield player and he’s even scoring goals now. What a goal that is (his first). What a great finish.
“Then he is getting on the end of things (second goal), as well as being industrious in the centre of the pitch.
“He (Murphy) did get a little fortune here, a little lucky, he’s going for goal and then Joelinton finishes it well with his left foot.”
It’s not just Joelinton that has taken his game to unimaginable levels under Howe.
Jonjo Shelvey, Fabian Schar and Joe Willock, to name a few, were all struggling prior to Howe coming in.
And now they are doing bits in the black and white colours, some performing better than others, with Joelinton being the standout.
Nonetheless, for Joelinton, this is a credit to the player for staying strong during such a period of time when Newcastle could have easily sold him.
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