Joelinton’s future at Newcastle looked up in the air before Eddie Howe replaced Steve Bruce, but the 25-year-old has become a first-team regular and essential part of the squad.
Despite this, Dean Jones thinks his days may be numbered, as the Magpies’ lucrative resources and lofty ambitions will see them eventually replace Joelinton.
He told GiveMeSport: “However good Joelinton (has) been for Newcastle, (he’s) not going to be a big part of that future. Those players will fall to the wayside where they will eventually be replaced by better players.”
Joelinton joined Newcastle on a six-year deal from Hoffenheim in 2019 and has gone on to make 114 appearances in all competitions, scoring 14 goals with eight assists.
The 25-year-old struggled for goals early on in his Newcastle career, netting only two goals from 38 Premier League games in 2019/20 and four goals from 31 league games in 2020/21, but Howe found purpose for Joelinton in a different role that allowed him to forget about scoring.
He used him as an auxiliary midfielder, going from box-to-box turning over possession and dribbling into the final third. It worked a treat and now Joelinton has found his confidence again, so much so he’s starting in attack and scoring goals (two goals in last two games), so there’s no way he’ll be offloaded just yet.
Newcastle have him tied down for another four years and would likely want back as much of the £40m spent as possible too. But ultimately, there are plenty other players not contributing as much as Joelinton who should be gotten rid of first.
It makes little sense to upgrade valuable players over replacing the deadwood.
In other news, Dean Jones says Jonjo Shelvey ‘will be replaced’ by Newcastle
