Alan Shearer has named his Premier League Team of the Week, and somewhat unsurprisingly, a couple of Newcastle players have made the cut.
Indeed, Ryan Fraser gets a spot on the wing for his efforts against Brentford, while Joelinton sealed his place in the midfield with a goal against the Bees.
Shearer was seemingly blown away by yet another solid display by Joelinton in the midfield, claiming that the Brazilian looks reborn in his new role under Eddie Howe.
What has Shearer written?
Shearer was full of praise for Joelinton when writing his Team of the Week column.
“The Brazilian looks reborn in midfield under Eddie Howe and scored an excellent goal,” Shearer wrote.
Predicted it
What is absolutely remarkable about all of this is that Alan Shearer called Joelinton’s position change a mile off.
Indeed, speaking to The Overlap last year, Shearer was full of praise for Joelinton’s workrate, but even then, he claimed that the £40m wasn’t a number nine.
I actually feel sorry for Joelinton at times because he was given the number nine shirt, asked to play centre-forward and score goals. None of that is his fault. That’s not his position. I can never criticise his work rate in terms of what he tries to do,” Shearer said.
“He always tries, he never hides away, but he’s not a goalscorer. He’s not a number nine, and he’s not a centre-forward, yet, he was asked to do all of that? How do you work that out?”
Luckily, the Brazilian now works under a manager who can recognise the positives in his game, and he’s proving himself to be a player more than capable of shining at this level.
Shearer says that Joelinton looks reborn, and he’s not wrong.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
