Joelinton — Not Your Typical Brazilian
In 2015, Hoffenheim bought Joelinton to replace Roberto Firmino — who left for Liverpool. His early career with Hoffenheim did not go smoothly, he only played once as a substitute in his first season and had to be loaned out to Rapid Wien for two seasons. There, he spent his time as a center-forward by recording 30 G/A from 79 matches.
His performances in the capital city of Austria led to him being called back to Hoffenheim for the 2018/2019 season, which was then being coached by Julian Nagelsmann — the manager who was able to bring Die Kraichgauer to the Champions League zone back-to-back. Under Nagelsmann, Joelinton was finally able to play consistently at Hoffenheim and managed to score 20 G/A from 36 matches.
His impressive performance attracted the attention of other clubs, one of them was Newcastle who were willing to pay a club record fee of £40 million at the start of the 2019/2020 season to replace Salomon Rondon. His departure from Hoffenheim coincided with Nagelsmann who also moved to Red Bull Leipzig to start a new chapter.
Just like at the beginning of his career with Hoffenheim, the former ‘Newcastle Number Nine’ also struggled in the first few seasons. He only recorded 19 G/A from 89 matches in 2,5 seasons with Steve Bruce. In his interview with The Telegraph, Joelinton had thought about leaving the Tyneside-based club.
But the arrival of Eddie Howe in the middle of the 2021/2022 season, changed his desire to leave.
Under Julian Nagelsmann and Steve Bruce
Even though he spent a lot of his career playing as a center-forward, he rarely played as a lone striker. With Nagelsmann, Joelinton excels as a two-man striker with Kramaric/Belfodil. Joelinton is the type of striker who often drops to the midfield to link up and open up space for other players. He is also a very good presser, which then draws comparisons to former Hoffenheim’s Brazilian forward — Roberto Firmino.
However, when he was with Steve Bruce’s Newcastle, Joelinton’s strengths were not utilized. Newcastle mostly defended with 5–4–1 mid/low blocks and rarely high pressed. When attacking, he didn’t get enough support. Joelinton was arguably the ‘servant’ at Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim — the one who help others to score goals, but he struggled to make an impact at Steve Bruce’s Newcastle due to being isolated.
Steve Bruce admitted that Joelinton was not a natural goalscorer.
“The great strikers, the goalscorers, all they’re interested in is scoring a goal — Joe is not like that.”
“He certainly hasn’t got that mentality, He is more a team player. He has to be a bit more selfish. He doesn’t get himself in the positions enough, that is something we’re working on.” — Steve Bruce
Steve Bruce also said that he wanted to try Joelinton playing in a wide position. But the bad results that continued to happen, left Newcastle stranded in the relegation zone, and eventually Steve Bruce was replaced by Eddie Howe.
With the managerial change, Eddie Howe tried Joelinton as the center-forward a couple of times, before finally converting him into a box-to-box midfielder. According to him, Joelinton has the ability to play in a number of areas, and wouldn’t label him.
“He’s got a really selfless mindset so I’ve been really pleased with him. I think he can continue to improve and he’s going to be a huge player for us. On Tuesday he started as a 10, then moved to a midfield position. He can play in a number of areas and I wouldn’t label him.” — Eddie Howe
Eddie Howe also uses a high-intensity pressing — the opposite of Steve Bruce’s method which is more comfortable sitting deep, something that Joelinton also excels.
Therefore, I analyze what is Joelinton’s role and why he became an important player for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle.
You can click link below to see the more complete version = https://mtfootballanalysis.substack.com/p/not-your-typical-brazilian
