Malcolm Macdonald says Alan Shearer should be invited back to Newcastle to help rescue Joelinton’s St James’ Park career.
Toon legend Macdonald has labelled the Geordies’ club-record £40million buy “a dud’’ – and believes boss Steve Bruce needs to enlist expert assistance if Joelinton is to have any future on Tyneside.
Former skipper Shearer is the Magpies’ leading all-time scorer with 206 goals in all competitions.
Even Macdonald himself, at 70, admits that he would be happy to don a tracksuit and instruct Joelinton in the art of goalscoring.
Newcastle handed the Brazilian striker their iconic No.9 shirt – made famous by Shearer, Macdonald and Jackie Milburn – when he signed last summer from Hoffenheim.
But he has scored only three goals since – with just one in 29 Premier League appearances, the winner at Tottenham seven months ago, plus strikes against League One sides Rochdale and Oxford in the FA Cup.
Asked if, as things stand, Joelinton will ever make it as Newcastle’s No.9, Supermac simply said: “No.
“There was something very telling a few weeks back when Steve Bruce (above) said that Joelinton had admitted he’s not bothered about scoring goals. If you’ve got a centre-forward who’s not bothered about scoring, you’ve got a dud.
“You have to be hungry all the time and be prepared to argue with all and sundry.
“But what Newcastle have is a No.9 who’s not bothered about scoring. If so, what’s the point of you being there?
“It makes me wonder, when you’ve got a fella like Alan Shearer – or maybe myself – whether we could go in for a day or two in the week and work with him to try to get the very best out of him and put a bit of fire in his belly.
“You need that if you’re going to score goals – you have to have a real desire.
“I don’t see that in Joelinton at all. Maybe he hasn’t the confidence or self-belief.
“I’ve noticed he has stopped getting into the penalty area at crucial times. That tells me he’s lost his appetite.
“It’s maybe he’s become afraid to miss. The one thing a goalscorer must never be is afraid to miss.’’
Shearer has said that Joelinton is “not a centre-forward’’ and Bruce has tried him in a wide-left role, one that Thierry Henry perfected at Arsenal, another of Macdonald’s old clubs.
“They’ve played him wide left, but he’s certainly no Thierry Henry,” said former England star Supermac. “But can you imagine Alan Shearer accepting being put wide? He’d probably punch whoever told him to do that rather than go through with it!
“The fact Steve Bruce has done it and Joelinton has accepted, meekly, to do it, tells me he’s already given up the ghost.
“You can come up with two centre-halves at Newcastle who, between them, have scored more goals this season than the centre-forward.’’
Newcastle signed Joelinton after Salomon Rondon, who hit 12 goals in the No.9 shirt last season while on loan from West Brom, saw hopes of a permanent move to Tyneside dashed when Rafa Benitez quit as Toon boss.
The Venezuelan then joined Benitez to play in China at Dalian Yifang.
Macdonald added: “Rondon fitted the bill for Newcastle in every way other than age.
“At 30, Rondon should have another good three or four years in him.
“But they bought Joelinton for two-and-a-half-times more than Rondon’s release clause.
“And he’s given up before he’s begun.”
