Former Sunderland player John O’Shea admitted that he was looking forward to seeing Joelinton in action for Newcastle United this season.
The retired defender shared that he was looking forward to seeing the Magpies’ new recruit in action as well as West Ham new boy Sebastien Haller due to them being big and strong attacking players.
O’Shea remarked on West Ham and Newcastle going for physicality when signing a new forward when discussing the best Premier League signings of the summer.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Joelinton and Haller as well, that physicality that Newcastle and West Ham have gone for,” said O’Shea (Sky Sports’ The Debate, 23:00, Monday, August 6th).
“Big strong attacking players.”
OPINION
O’Shea played over 200 times for the Magpies’ archrivals Sunderland so it’s odd to see him talk about being eager to see a Newcastle player in action. However, it seems that the 38-year-old is keen on seeing attackers who are physically strong in the Premier League and given that he was a no-nonsense defender during his playing days it’s not really a surprise. O’Shea, who appeared 445 times in England’s top-flight, probably loved coming up against an attacker capable of going toe-to-toe with him as it was a challenge, and he is glad there are Premier League sides banking on a powerful forward being their main guy. Newcastle broke their transfer record to sign Joelinton as they spent £40million, according to the BBC, and after losing both Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon from last season’s squad, they’re clearly hoping the Brazilian can fire them to glory. The 6ft 1in tall forward, as per Transfermarkt, scored seven goals, while assisting five, in his 28 league outings last season for Hoffenheim and showed how powerful he was in the air by winning 2.3 aerial duels per match (Source: WhoScored). However, while that is promising, Steve Bruce will no doubt be hoping Joelinton can hit double digits in his upcoming campaign.
