Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon is firmly in the spotlight right now after his three goal involvements in his last three starts for England Under 21s.
It was once again Newcastle‘s Anthony Gordon who took the plaudits last night as his goal fired England into the semi-final of the U21s European Championship for the first time since 2017.
As well as scoring the all-important goal, Gordon also scooped the Player of the Match award.
Anthony Gordon took the plaudits after England’s win yesterday
While national media focused mainly on the result, the Newcastle man wasn’t completely overlooked with The Guardian mentioning that Gordon took his goal ‘superbly’.
The Daily Mail had more to say on Gordon with them acknowledging it was a team-effort but singling out the 22-year-old flying winger as worthy of the plaudits, while describing the scenes at full time as Gordon was rushed by his teammates saying: “From there, they created little and digging in was the order of the day. On the whistle, an outpouring. Gordon, manhandled by [Noni] Madueke, lay strewn on the turf.”
They then go on to quote Gordon who clarified “I had cramp in both calves. Probably worth it”.
Gordon’s performances for England will be giving Eddie Howe plenty to think about going into the new season. Playing through the middle as a makeshift striker, Gordon has admitted that this could be his best position, and with Newcastle looking for cover in that position, he could save us a trip to the transfer market.
The Sun recently ran quotes from Gordon (via The Chronicle) admitting he’s enjoying playing more centrally, saying: “Obviously I haven’t played there many times so it doesn’t come naturally.
“I’m seeing a lot of the game in front of me, which is helping me a bit. I’m playing off Morgs [Morgan Gibbs-White], which is quite easy because he moves a lot.
“I’m getting a better understanding of football playing in different positions: a number eight and on the wings for Newcastle and now as a number nine. To be honest, I feel like it may be my best position because I think I’m better running off people.
“You can see when Morgs gets the ball and I’m spinning, I can use my pace a bit more. You can get a bit isolated on the wing, drifting in and out of games.”
We could be about to see Gordon’s full potential at Newcastle
As Newcastle look to the new season it feels like Anthony Gordon is going to come back a completely different player to what we saw after his big money move in January.
The ‘electric‘ forward had said the fitness levels of the Newacstle squad surprised him when he arrived and now that he knows what’s expected of him, he’s determined to reach those levels before the season kicks off.
Eddie Howe clearly saw the potential and we could be about to see what Eddie sees.
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