Joelinton struggled with Newcastle United last season (Getty Images)
As per Turkish newspaper Fotomac (h/t The Shields Gazette), Fenerbahce are interested in signing Newcastle United striker Joelinton in the summer.
Joelinton, 23, joined TSG Hoffenheim in the summer of 2015 from Brazilian outfit Sport Recife. After one season with the Bundesliga side, he was sent on loan to Rapid Vienna in Austria before returning to his parent club.
He had a decent last season, scoring 7 goals and providing 7 goals and earned a move to St. James’ Park last summer. However, he has not fulfilled expectations and the Magpies should look to offload the Brazilian in the summer with Fenerbahce interested in him, as per the report.
Steve Bruce’s men have failed to perform consistently throughout the campaign and have fallen to 13th position in the league standings. One of the chief reasons for their downfall is the lack of consistency in front of goal.
The magpies have four centre-forwards in their ranks in Andy Carroll, Yoshinori Muto, Dwight Gayle and Joelinton. While three out of the four strikers haven’t yet opened their account this term, the former Hoffenheim man has just 1 goal and 2 assists to his name.
This has led to Newcastle scoring just 25 goals in the league so far, which is the joint-lowest in the league. Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is their top scorer with 5 league goals. Thus, depending on Joelinton would not be a wise choice by the manager.
The Brazilian had just one good last season, where he contributed directly or indirectly to just 14 goals (7 goals and 7 assists). He has never touched double figures in any of the past 4 seasons in the league and therefore, Joelinton must be sold and replaced.
He also cost the Magpies a club record £40m last summer and that already seems to be a waste of resources by the Tyneside outfit. Instead of keeping hold of the former Brazil youth international, the Magpies can look to bring in reinforcements in the form of Odsonne Edouard, who is constantly linked with a move to St. James’ Park.
Newcastle are in dire need of a striker in the summer and they can make a signing only if they sell players who are out of form. In that regard, they should offload Joelinton in the summer as it could help both the club and the player. He can also revive his career elsewhere.
