Newcastle flop is a “massive overpay”

Newcastle United find themselves sat in a rather unremarkable 11th position in the Premier League standings heading into Christmas.

Eddie Howe‘s Toon are only six points shy of the top four spots in the league, though, with the Magpies manager desperate for some more consistent form from his troops heading into 2026, so his hot-and-cold side can finish in a European position again.

Unfortunately, far too many of the stalwarts Howe thought he could rely on at St James’ Park have started to show signs of visible rust, with Joelinton surely edging towards the end of his rollercoaster Tyneside stay now, as one major culprit in this department.

Joelinton’s drop-off at Newcastle

With a tireless 5.7 duels won on average last season in the Premier League, on top of four goals and three assists next to his name, Joelinton looked to be ageing like a fine wine, donning the famous black and white stripes of Newcastle.

However, fast forward to the present, and the declining Brazilian has been left rooted to the bench across the Toon’s last three matches, with injuries also playing a big role in his being dropped.

But, with Joelinton only winning just two of his nine duels against Bayer Leverkusen, which was his last start for the Toon, and Lewis Miley coming in immediately and scoring as his replacement, it is also performance-based, with journalist Mark Douglas stating that the lethargic South American looked “nowhere near his best” all the way back in October.

There have been no signs of improvement since then, with the 29-year-old’s ongoing decline at St James’ Park a sad sight to take in, considering he was once noted as being a “club legend” by content creator Adam Pearson, when regularly putting in vibrant displays from the middle of the park.

Now, nobody would bat an eyelid if he remained on the substitutes bench for the foreseeable future, with Howe already having another sorry Joelinton situation on his hands with this expensive flop, who looks a shadow of his previous Premier League best, despite only moving to his new location in the summer.

The flop who is Newcastle’s new Joelinton

Howe will not be impressed with standards slipping all across his camp, with the “very painful” loss at the hands of Sunderland, as it was branded by the 48-year-old, coming about due to lack of fight and energy from his inconsistent outfit.

Anthony Elanga received plenty of pelters for his off-performance on Wearside, with the £55m attacker bluntly dismissed as “absolutely awful” by social media account NUFC Edge when failing to complete one successful dribble against Regis Le Bris’ men.

Consequently, he already looks to be in an uncomfortable position to turn around his Newcastle fortunes, as he prepares to warm the bench alongside Joelinton, having only been afforded 17 minutes of action against Chelsea.

He would have frustrated the Newcastle masses in this instance, too, even from such a short-lived cameo, as he spurned a glorious late opportunity, leading to analyst Raj Chohan calling out his decision making as “very poor.”

As a result, the Swedish forward is still stuck on zero goals and one assist in Premier League action for his new employers, which is a far cry from his devastating best for Nottingham Forest last season, as is seen looking at the table above, when he bagged six goals and 11 assists at the City Ground.

Now, he only has two goal contributions to shout about from 25 Newcastle appearances, with the aforementioned Chohan blasting the decision to bring him in for £55m as a “massive overpay“.

Joelinton knows all too well how quickly your stock can fall, with the Brazilian also falling way short of his 2024/25 numbers during this season so far, as Howe opted to start neither of his underperformers against Chelsea.

To further those comparisons, some may well argue that Elanga is very much having a Joelinton-esque first season on Tyneside. While the big burly Brazilian came good last term, his first year in Newcastle was shocking following his mega-money move. A club-record arrival at the time, he scored just twice in 38 league games, despite signing as a striker.

In the present, there is still time for both individuals to turn around their dismal narratives, but patience will rightly be thin, especially when it comes to Elanga, as the decision to bring him in for £55m continues to look like a huge waste of money.

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