Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has admitted that he is contemplating his future after a frustrating season under Rafael Benitez.
The Magpies finished off their season with a ruthless display at Craven Cottage on Sunday, winning 4-0, a game in which Shelvey opened the scoring in.
Speaking to the Chronicle after the game, the England international said: “I needed to put in a performance to get people talking back about me either at Newcastle – or away from Newcastle.”
“I’ll enjoy the summer and see what the summer brings now. To be fair, I’m glad to see the back of this season.”
Shelvey has struggled to get a consistent run of starts together in the Newcastle midfield after being named as captain in their April draw with Brighton.
The 27-year-old has had an inconsistent campaign, only making 16 appearances in the Premier League, scoring once and getting the same amount of assists.
OPINION
There is no doubt that it has been a terribly frustrating season for Jonjo Shelvey under Rafael Benitez at Newcastle. To go from being a mainstay the season before, making 30 appearances to drop down to half of that in the space of one season will be a bitter pill for the England international to swallow. Benitez has preferred to stick to other options such as Isaac Hayden and Ki Sung Yeung, even opting to bring in young starlet Sean Longstaff as a holding midfielder over the experience of Shelvey. The 27-year-old definitely showed Benitez what he would be missing if the two games against both Brighton and Fulham are his last. The midfield controlled both games with ease when his side had possession and even managed to get on the scoresheet against the latter with a lovely finish against Fulham. There are many futures to be decided at Newcastle as a whole in the summer and making sure Shelvey is still at the club come the start of the next campaign could be an inspiring piece of business.
