Joelinton’s struggles in front of goal were a main storyline for Newcastle United this season.
Last summer, Newcastle United broke their club transfer record for the second time in less than a year when they added Joelinton from Hoffenheim. The young, Brazilian took the heralded number nine kit and proceeded to struggle the entire season to establish himself as a Premier League-level player.
2019-20 EPL stats: 38 appearances, two goals, two assists, 50 shots (15 on target)
Expert Breakdown
Durim Halimi: At the start of the season, I wrote an article explaining why fans should be excited about Joelinton. I was way off. Joelinton struggled to adapt to English football and his confidence has been low all season.
I believe his final output would have been better had Steve Bruce scrapped the defensive tactics that left the Brazilian isolated for most of the season. However, even when the tactics did change, Joelinton was not heavily involved in the action.
Bruce and the coaching staff need to figure out if they will play him up top or out wide next season, and stick to it. A player with rattled confidence will not cope well with constant positional changes.
Overall, Joelinton needs to work on his movement off the ball and focus on finding open avenues into the penalty area. He is capable of scoring goals, he just needs to believe it.
Carson A. Merk: Joelinton’s 2019/20 season was not what any of us were expecting at all when he was a big-money addition from the Bundesliga. It sounds simple, but the only thing he really struggled with was putting the ball in the back of the net.
He did well to win his aerial duels and he’s pretty solid dribbling the ball, but when it came time to be clinical in front of goal, things just didn’t click. I’m sure a lack of confidence played a part in that during points this season, but he kept working hard and I have to commend him for that.
There’s no way around the fact that he needs to be much better next season to validate the price Newcastle paid for him.
With skillful attacking players around him like Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin, an efficient Joelinton in front of goal gives Newcastle a potent attack.