West Ham United reportedly wanted Jonjo Shelvey in January.
Newcastle United are in fine form at the moment, and a real feel-good factor has returned to St James’ Park in recent weeks.
Two home wins over Huddersfield Town and Burnley have propelled the Magpies up the Premier League table, and fans are loving seeing a club-record signing in Miguel Almiron playing alongside a homegrown talent in Sean Longstaff.
Longstaff has really come to the fore alongside Isaac Hayden in the Newcastle midfield, but his form is keeping others out of the side.
Mohamed Diame and Ki Sung-yueng were on the bench against Burnley, with Jonjo Shelvey not even able to be named as a substitute right now, sitting fifth in Rafael Benitez’s midfield pecking order.
Now, Benitez has told The Mirror that Shelvey needs to improve his fitness in order to play, but that’s hard without playing games – meaning he faces a tricky situation at St James’ Park.
Shelvey, 27, may even be staring at the Newcastle exit if things don’t improve, and he may well wish that he was able to move on during the January transfer window.
The Express reported that Newcastle turned down a £10million approach from West Ham for Shelvey, and the Hammers didn’t manage to secure a deal as the Magpies stood firm.
Since then though, Longstaff has emerged and Hayden looks more settled, so Shelvey may well need to move on if he wants regular first-team football.
Joining his boyhood club West Ham would have given him a chance to compete with Mark Noble and Declan Rice rather than being on the sidelines at Newcastle, and having seen a January move fail, a summer move to West Ham should be in Shelvey’s sights.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
