Five years ago, the Brazilian midfielder Joelinton was one of the Premier League’s worst players. But yesterday he was Newcastle’s best in their 2-1 win over Liverpool in the League Cup final. Spurred on by the clamour of the final, his gladiatorial style overpowered Liverpool’s meek midfield. He celebrated every tackle like a goal, buoying teammates and fans alike. After a third crucial tackle, the commentators purred in unison: ‘That’s his hat-trick.’ Now he’s been called up to the Brazilian national side. His redemption is without end.
Perhaps the circumstances of Joelinton’s arrival at Newcastle in the summer of 2019 were unfair. Manager Steve Bruce originally bought the Brazilian as a striker for a club record-breaking £40 million. A struggling Newcastle expected him to be the answer to all the club’s problems. Fans, awed that the tight-fisted owner Mike Ashley would ever spend such a sum on a single player, wanted him to be the next Alan Shearer. He came from an intense and aggressive Hoffenheim side coached by the young, pioneering German manager Julian Nagelsmann (who now coaches his national side). But at Newcastle, Joelinton found himself playing as a lone forward with little support. The result? Two goals in his first season, followed by a 26-game run without a single goal.
Joelinton was the laughing stock of the league. Fans joked that as a striker he scuffed every shot and that as a winger he ran through custard. Not even the stats bores would defend him. Worst shooting accuracy: Joelinton. Worst conversion rate: Joelinton. Worst minutes per goal: Joelinton.
It’s normally at this point in a struggling player’s career that the decline becomes irreversible. So often, strikers – especially from South America – impress in the European leagues but fail to meet the expectations of Premier League clubs. Fifteen years ago, it was the Brazilian Jô whom Manchester City signed from CSKA Moscow. Like Joelinton, he was a club-record signing, costing £19 million, but he managed just six goals in 43 games before being shipped off to another club. A few years later, Southampton signed the Argentine Guido Carrillo for £19 million after an impressive spell at Monaco. He lasted a single season, failing to score in ten games. Currently, it’s the turn of the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez at Liverpool. He also played in yesterday’s cup final, doing a lot of his trademark frantic running around and defensive disruption. Despite being a fan favourite, many think Núñez’s haphazard style makes him unsuited to the top of the Premier League. After two seasons, pundits speculate that he will be dispatched to Saudi Arabia.
Given the number of failed predecessors and currently similarly cursed players, you could consider it blind luck that led to Joelinton’s resurgence. He had some fortune. When the Saudis bought Newcastle in October 2021, they cleared out the coaching staff to bring in the young English manager Eddie Howe, who inverted the team’s tactics. Standoffish defending and cautious attacking were out; intense pressing and throwing bodies forward were in. The same conditions under which Joelinton had thrived at Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim. In Howe’s third game in charge, defender Ciaran Clark was sent off within ten minutes, forcing the striker Joelinton into midfield. He played there for the rest of the season, making tackles more than taking shots. The effect was clear: Newcastle climbed from the bottom of the league to 11th within a few months. He was also named the club’s player of the year that season. His price tag was paying off.
What was evident about Joelinton’s talent to Howe a few years ago – ‘He is a brick wall,’ Howe said, ‘he’s a hard worker’ – is now widely accepted. Eerily similar words were once said by Joelinton’s old boss at Hoffenheim, Nagelsmann: ‘He is hard to break… he marches until his tongue hangs onto the floor.’ His sheer effort and willpower have transformed him from an errant forward into one of the league’s best midfielders.
A few years ago, no Newcastle fan would have believed you if you had said Joelinton would go from Brazilian flop to bonny lad. Now, he has the silverware to prove it.
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