Graeme Souness was awestruck by Joelinton’s first Newcastle United goal when he found the back of the net in the 1-0 win against Tottenham in North London on Sunday afternoon.
Joelinton, 22, became Newcastle’s club-record signing in the summer when he arrived from Hoffenheim for £40million but there were widespread concerns about him last week as he squandered a golden chance in the defeat to Norwich.
However those who doubted the Brazilian striker will surely be re-thinking their initial verdict after that goal against Spurs in the first half.
Ex-Newcastle manager Souness was particularly pleased with Christan Atsu’s assist for the goal and the finish itself.
“There’s a lot to like about it,” said Souness at half-time on Sky Sports Premier League on Sunday [05:22pm].
“Atsu’s little dink and Joelinton’s first touch and strike were superb.”
“From Newcastle’s point of view it’s a lovely first touch and all he’s concentrating on there is getting a good strike on goal.”
OPINION
It was great to finally see Joelinton open his account for Newcastle, especially as it was away at Tottenham in a game that no one was really expecting him to do much. Atsu’s impact off the bench was the best part about it as Allan Saint-Maximin did not look at all at the races before he was substituted off with an injury. Atsu took just minutes to play a lovely ball into Joelinton and it was such a cool, composed finish by the £40million striker, and that bodes well for the rest of the season with him spearheading Steve Bruce’s attack. Hopefully Joelinton can build on this goal now and start taking chances – like that one at Norwich last week – against other sides. It’s all well and good to have good hold-up and link play with your team-mates but Joelinton is there to stick the ball in the back of the net and that’s what he needs to do regularly.
