Newcastle United have come a long way in recent years.
Indeed, Newcastle have now won a piece of major silverware and they were in the Champions League last season.
However, if you cast your mind back a decade, the Magpies were about to drop into the Championship.
Playing in the Championship was a dark period for Newcastle, but the Tyneside club did have some very talented players in that time.
Of course, they didn’t have anyone on the level of someone like Alexander Isak. Isak is the best striker in the world according to some.
However, they did have some top talents – Aleksandar Mitrovic is starring in Saudi Arabia at the moment, while Ayoze Perez won the Euros over the summer too.
Speaking on Open Goal, Dwight Gayle has been discussing some of his teammates during that time at Newcastle, and he says that Jonjo Shelvey was a very misunderstood player who was a top talent.
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Jonjo Shelvey was a top player
Gayle spoke about Shelvey’s ability and how he was perceived.
Gayle says that Shelvey had a bad reputation – Shelvey was often criticised by pundits.
However, the striker says that the midfielder was misunderstood and he was actually a top player and a top professional.
Shelvey was appreciated by some, but, often, he wasn’t given the credit he deserved.
“I see Jonjo, I think he’s perceived that way that he’s a bad professional, or he doesn’t concentrate, but he would be locked in. He’s very professional, he likes his golf and he likes a beer, but he would always do extra at home, he was an unbelievable player,” Gayle said.
What Eddie Howe said about Jonjo Shelvey
Eddie Howe has built one of the best midfields in England with Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali in the middle of the park.
However, when Howe first arrived, Shelvey was Newcastle’s midfield lynchpin, and the midfielder was hailed by Howe upon his arrival.
“I knew how good he was having played against him. But then when you work with him you realise he’s an incredible technician,” Howe said.
“He can play all sorts of passes, long and short. In terms of our philosophy he’s someone who’ll be very important to us.”
Ultimately, Shelvey wouldn’t be that important to the Eddie Howe era. He played just 26 games for the Newcastle boss, and was moved onto Nottingham Forest quite quickly.
Shelvey won’t be remembered as a Newcastle legend, but he played a big part in getting Newcastle out of the Championship, and he had a role to play in getting the Magpies to where they are today.
