Ally McCoist has been left in shock at what has happened to one of Newcastle United’s star players this season.
Newcastle have suffered a whole host of bad injuries throughout this campaign with Kieran Trippier being the latest, but one of the ones who they have missed the most has been Joelinton in the midfield.
McCoist was speaking on talkSPORT where he claimed he could have never predicted that Newcastle would be missing the midfielder so much after his poor start in the Premier League.
McCoist says he can’t believe what Newcastle are doing
Newcastle have seriously missed Joelinton’s presence in the midfield as of late, especially against Arsenal when the team looked to simply roll over and admit defeat from the very first minute.
They have had some better luck now with Joe Willock and Elliot Anderson returning to the side, but as Eddie Howe previously claimed, Joelinton just gives Newcastle something different.
There was concern that they may end up losing the Brazilian international in the summer as he was demanding to be amongst the club’s highest earners with a new contract as his current deal expires in 2025.
Now, news emerged yesterday that the club were making good progress in the negotiations with the £40m player and McCoist can’t believe how important he’s become to Newcastle.
On the show, McCoist said: “If somebody had said to me 18 months ago that Newcastle would be missing Joelinton, I’d have locked them up immediately. But boy, they are. It’s amazing.
“I love it. I just love it. There was a period there where you were actually watching him play centre forward, and you’re in agony for him.
“And then he gets drawn back in the middle of the park and it’s just a completely different entity. He’s been great. So I’d love to see him sign a new contract there. Fans favourite as well.”
Joelinton is one of Newcastle’s greatest comebacks
When Joelinton first signed for Newcastle from Hoffenheim in 2019 for a record fee, there was definitely a sense of confusion amongst the fans given Mike Ashley was often frugal with his spending and this wasn’t exactly a big name player.
In fact, most won’t have even heard of the Brazilian who looked a decent player over in Germany but wasn’t exactly pulling any trees up as an incredible talent worth £40m.
During his first couple of seasons it was clear that the young man simply wasn’t a Premier League striker with just six goals in almost 70 league games, and yet he enjoyed a complete turnaround in form under Howe.
The former Bournemouth man saw Joelinton’s best qualities and tried him out in the midfield where he has played ever since and is now one of Newcastle’s most important players, yet nobody else saw it but Howe.
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