Eddie Howe was not happy with how £40m Newcastle star was playing before he got the job

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Eddie Howe identified a big problem with Joelinton at Newcastle United before he agreed to take over at St James’ Park.

Cast your minds back to the start of the 2021/22 season … actually, don’t, those were dark times, just read on.

Newcastle were playing with their record signing Joelinton up front despite the fact that the £40million signing from Hoffenheim had garnered a reputation of not being able to find the back of the net with a military grade sat nav.

Eddie Howe saw the issue with Joelinton before he even got the job

Then in October the long-protracted takeover finally went through and the club’s new owners began their search for a new manager, ultimately landing on Eddie Howe.

Now The Athletic has shared that Howe knew exactly what he was walking into at Newcastle and even namechecked Joelinton as a player who was not playing up to his potential.

The fact that Howe’s approach wasn’t just to cut Newcastle’s losses and sell Joelinton, but rather to work with him and develop him says more about the man than any Amazon documentary ever could – although hopefully we get some brilliant insights from that too.

A mere 19 months on and Joelinton is now considered to be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and could finally make his international debut for Brazil on Saturday after being called up by Ramon Menenzes.

Howe is the man to bring glory back to St James’ Park

The Brazilian head coach has already been very impressed with what he’s seen from Joelinton in training, so it certainly feels like our midfield beast could get his opportunity to shine in at least one of Brazil’s upcoming fixtures.

What Eddie Howe has done with Joelinton, and indeed many other Newcastle players who were deemed to be lucky to be playing in the Premier League, shows the calibre of manager we have at Newcastle now.

The Magpies have had some fantastic managers over the years, but if ever there was a manager who could bring silverware to Newcastle it’s Eddie Howe.