Newcastle United midfielder Joelinton has now admitted that he has ‘never’ been the centre-forward the Toon signed him to be in a club-record transfer under Steve Bruce.
The Magpies broke the bank to bring Joelinton to the Premier League back in July 2019. The St James’ Park natives paid TSG Hoffenheim £40m for the Brazilian as the first signing of the Bruce era. Rafa Benitez had refused to sign Joelinton while still in charge, per Chronicle Live.
Joelinton had been a player on Newcastle’s radar for some time toward the end of Benitez’s tenure on Tyneside. The Toon’s scouts admired the Alianca native’s displays in Germany on the left-hand side of Hoffenheim’s attack. But Benitez still refused to sign off on the transfer.
Newcastle secured Joelinton’s transfer once Benitez was out of their way
Bruce succeeding Benitez at the helm afforded Newcastle a chance to go ahead with a move for Joelinton in 2019. The Magpies also awarded the Sport Recife product their coveted No9 jersey. But Joelinton would never justify the iconic shirt with his lacklustre efforts as a striker.
Joelinton amassed 89 appearances before Newcastle sacked Bruce in October 2021, just 13 days after their Saudi-led takeover. In that time, he registered just 10 goals and eight assists in 66 games as a centre-forward. Bruce intermittently shifted Joelinton into wider positions.
Joelinton claims he was ‘never’ the striker the Magpies signed him to be
The appointment of Eddie Howe to the Newcastle helm unlocked the real Joelinton, though. He turned around a career that looked set to go down as one of the Premier League’s worst transfers of all time. Joelinton finished the 2021/22 campaign as their Player of the Season.
Howe made an inspired decision to move Joelinton into the Magpies’ midfield. His all-action efforts were a game-changer for the Brazilian’s time in black-and-white. But the foundations were already there as Joelinton feels he was ‘never’ the striker Newcastle wanted him to be.
“Today, I can show more of who I am than before,” Joelinton has told The Guardian. “When you’re a striker, you’re there to score goals. The media and the fans demand goals from you. I’ve never been that hungry man for goals.
“Of course, I always want to score. But if I see a teammate in a better position, I’m going to make the pass. You see the greatest strikers in the world, they don’t pass the ball. They want everything for themselves. They always want to score and I’ve never had that desire.
“When I was a kid I played in midfield. That’s what I like: playing, having fun, having the ball, dribbling. In attack, you’re isolated, you’re up front and you don’t touch the ball as much.”
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