Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has revealed that he didn’t think he would start again for the club this season.
The 27-year-old was given his first starting berth for six months against Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday, and he’s now lifted the lid on his struggles this campaign.
“Hand on my heart, I didn’t think I’d start this season,” he told the Daily Mirror. “That’s the impression I was getting because the team were doing so well and it’s hard to get in; I haven’t really been given the opportunities.
“Six months is a long time without starting a game. It’s hard to start a game after six months — it’s not as easy as people think. But I think I did reasonably well. I just want to try and maintain my place for the following week. I have been very, very down, because you want to play football. You can take all the money away, because at the end of the day all you want to do is play football.”
OPINION
This is incredibly honest stuff from Shelvey and it’s good to hear from a high profile player like him. To be honest, it was looking for a long time like the Englishman wouldn’t start again this season. Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff had made the central midfield positions their own after the turn of the year, while Ki Sung-yueng and Mohamed Diame were waiting in the wings as well. So it was a packed area of the pitch for Rafael Benitez and Shelvey clearly wasn’t doing enough to get significant game time. However, Longstaff’s injury gave him more of an opportunity and he finally took it against Brighton. He was excellent on Saturday and controlled the game from the middle of the park alongside Hayden. As he says, it was very tough for him being out of the team for as long as he was. However, he will surely get a couple more starts down the stretch this term.
