What will Joelinton bring to Newcastle United?

In the midst of a summer of discontent – and frankly – disaster at Newcastle United, the Geordie faithful have had very little to celebrate or feel excited about going into the new season. After a mixed campaign in 2018/19 that saw Mike Ashley finally break the infamous transfer record on Paraguayan playmaker Miguel Almirón, which led to much improved performances and a commendable 13th place finish, Newcastle fans were hoping for the club to build on that and start aiming for some long term progress. The obvious starting point was to renew Rafael Benitez’s contract and give him funds and control of transfers in order to allow the club to continue to progress with the Spaniard at the helm. With Benitez in charge, it felt like English football’s sleeping giant was beginning to stir, and adored by the fans, there was absolutely no question that he was the club’s most valuable asset.

What happened between May and July was worse than any of the Toon Army’s worst nightmares. Advanced takeover talks had begun between Ashley and the Emirati Bin Zayed Group, but in the end they evaporated and simply served as a distraction, which led to Ashley failing to come to an agreement with Benitez, and Newcastle United witnessed the departure of the man that had united the club in the last three years. Within two weeks of his departure, the club had already reverted back to its former transfer policies that had already led to two relegations. Last season’s top scorer, Ayoze Perez was sold to Leicester City for £30 million (a healthy £28 million profit for Ashley) and it seemed like the club would go back to buying young players for cheap and selling them on for more. This meant that at 29 years old, 2018/19 Player of the Season, Salomon Rondon was no longer a viable signing and he along with Benitez, set off for China to join Dalian Yifang. 

Boyhood Newcastle supporter Steve Bruce’s appointment was met with outrage by the Toon Army due to his less than convincing managerial record, the fact he’d managed Sunderland, and simply because it was a gargantuan downgrade from Rafa Benitez. The calamitous summer has led to many supporters cancelling their season tickets, and large scale boycotts have been planned, most notably the #BoycottArsenal campaign which will see many fans not attend their first game of the season on the 11th of August. 

However, in an attempt to get fans back on his side, Mike Ashley has finally dipped into his back pocket to fork out a huge £40 million in order to finance the purchase of club record-signing Joelinton, from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The 22-year old fits the bill perfectly for Ashley and the stark reality is that Ashley will be hoping to sell the young Brazilian for profit at some point in the future, but at least for now, Newcastle United have a new striker who they can adore and who they’ll be hoping becomes a hero in the iconic black and white of Newcastle United. 

But what exactly can Newcastle United fans expect to see from their new man?

NOT YOUR TRADITIONAL NUMBER NINE

Joelinton isn’t what you’d normally expect of a striker his size. Julian Nagelsmann, Hoffenheim’s manager last season, a notoriously versatile tactician, employed a wide variety of systems and formations, which only required Joelinton to play as a lone striker on three occasions. The most popular formation used was 3-5-2 (the same formation Steve Bruce is set to use at Newcastle United), in which Joelinton played in a staggered frontline alongside either Ishak Belfodil or Adam Szalai, both of whom are traditional target men. As a result, Joelinton often was tasked with dropping slightly deeper between the lines in order to link midfield to attack and give the Hoffenheim side more vertical lines. 

What made him particularly effective in this role is his excellent ball-carrying ability in which he often combines his 6’1” and 81kg frame with deft close control, making him extremely difficult to get the ball off. The fact that he is relatively tall, while also boasting outstanding dribbling ability is what has caught the eye of the footballing public, it’s what has made him so unique, and most importantly, it’s what has made him so awkward to defend against. A common feature of Joelinton’s play last season was that he often received the ball deep off his central midfielders before turning and driving forward and laying the ball off to the wingbacks or to his strike-partner, gaining his side some valuable yards. The fact that he’s hardly an out-an-out striker but more of a support striker will partly explain why he picked up 7 goals and 7 assists last season. 

FAR FROM PROLIFIC

Many eyebrows were raised when Newcastle United spent £40 million on a forward who only scored 7 league goals last season in the Bundesliga. We’ve already established that he’s not a traditional striker and hence isn’t expected to be scoring hatfuls, but that isn’t the only reason his goal tally is a little light for someone who’s rated so highly. Joelinton’s 7 goals comes in at 1.93 lower than his expected goals tally (xG), which lies as 8.93, and this has been reflected by his profligacy at times in a Hoffenheim shirt, most notably when he missed a tap in from 10 yards out against Bayern Munich in the opening game of the season. His tally of 15 goals in 60 games in his two seasons at Rapid Wien isn’t hugely impressive either, and would suggest that he is still raw and is far from the finished product. In a Newcastle side in need of goals, he might not be the man to bear the goalscoring burden all on his own. 

Another frustrating side of Joelinton’s game might be his inconsistency in keeping hold of the ball. He was dispossessed 62 times last season and had 81 unsuccessful touches, which ranked at 4th highest and 9th highest respectively in the Bundesliga. Newcastle United will undoubtedly spend large parts of many games without the ball this season, like last season, and Joelinton will be required to keep the ball better, especially when United are under significant amounts of pressure. Although it wouldn’t be ideal, Joelinton might be asked to play as a traditional number nine and asked to use his size and strength to hold the ball up and relieve pressure off the Newcastle backline, similar to what Salomon Rondon did last season. I expect that he will be given this task occasionally at Newcastle and certainly, with a bit of fine tuning he could perform this role to a decent standard, such is the versatility of the Brazilian. 

A VERSATILE, COACHABLE PLAYER

In his one full season at Hoffenheim, Joelinton played on both wings, as an inside forward, as a striker, a support striker and even as an attacking midfielder. He has surprisingly good feet for a big man, which coupled with his pace means that he’s able to get out of tight situations with relative ease. He’s a constant threat on the counter attack due his pace, size and constant presence, and is always willing to press, which will be an important facet of how Newcastle United will operate this season. 

His seven assists last season also suggests he can have a creative influence, and he averaged 1.8 key passes per 90 minutes last season. Over the course of the season, he amassed 43 key passes, the fifth highest out of U23 players, and the fifth highest out of all forwards in the league. 

His positional versatility has made him a useful player for any side and he can be used in a variety of formations and systems due to his all-rounded ability as a forward. This versatility coupled with his tireless defensive work rate means that it is no surprise that Benitez liked the Brazilian, but at the time, didn’t feel it was worth the risk. 

CLOSEST COMPARISON

There aren’t any obvious comparisons to Joelinton because he is frankly a very unique player. The most accurate comparison would be his compatriot Roberto Firmino. Coincidentally they both made their names at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, but their styles of play are somewhat similar. Both are strikers who rarely play on the last man, but rather pick the ball up and drive forward from deep before linking up with teammates. Joelinton isn’t quite as tricky as Firmino and certainly isn’t anywhere near as clinical as the Liverpool man, but he is more physical than Firmino, and is much more adept at playing a target man role, perhaps making him more versatile. 

Another reasonable comparison would be Marko Arnautovic, although Joelinton doesn’t play on the last man as much as Arnautovic does. Both are tall, strong dribblers with an eye for goals and assists while playing as a striker, support striker or inside forward. 

HOW WILL HE FIT IN AT NEWCASTLE UNITED?

Assuming that new boss Steve Bruce sticks with the 3-5-2 that he has used in pre season, then I would say that the ideal situation is that Joelinton performs a similar role to what he did when Hoffenheim used the same formation. If the Magpies can bring in another striker, ideally a tall target man (e.g. Jean-Phillipe Mateta), then this will give Joelinton the best chance to succeed like he did at Hoffenheim. A tall striker who can occupy two defenders, could potentially create situations where Joelinton finds himself one-on-one in the half space with either the spare centre-half or the full back. From this situation, he can either use the spare man (the onrushing wingback) or look to use his pace and dribbling to beat the man and get a shot off. For this reason, it is of huge importance that Newcastle United bring in a quality striker to partner Joelinton in the 3-5-2 formation. 

Although it remains unlikely, if Bruce reverts back to the 3-4-3 of last year, then Joelinton will slot in as the right hand side inside forward, filling in for Ayoze Perez. This will be a familiar role which he has played in occasionally at Hoffenheim.

Joelinton will have no trouble coping with the physical demands of the Premier League, given his height and strength. Having played in the Bundesliga for a season, the high intensity of the Premier League shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the Brazilian.

FINAL VERDICT

Joelinton is undoubtedly a very talented footballer with a bright future ahead of him. He’s a complete striker who seems to be improving, and is blessed with an abundance of natural ability which will help him throughout his career. At Hoffenheim, he was in a Champions League side with many other experienced, top quality players and top quality attackers like Belfodil, Szalai and Kramaric all to learn from and all of whom chipped in with goals and assists, meaning that not all the pressure was on him. 

He’s now moved to the Premier League, to Newcastle United, a club seemingly in turmoil, with only two senior striker currently on their books. He’s smashed their transfer record, and will have the responsibility of scoring and creating many of the Magpies’ goals this season, and hence there’ll be heaps of pressure on him, compared to what he experienced at Hoffenheim. Steve Bruce is a notoriously good man manager and tends to get the best out of young players, and Joelinton will undoubtedly need plenty of guidance from his manager in his first season at the club. Although his price tag is hefty, he’s not quite the finished product yet, but if he continues to progress and he smoothes out his weaknesses, there is no doubt that he could become a player who excites the Geordies and he could become a really important player for Newcastle United in the upcoming season.