Newcastle United legend Malcolm Macdonald has described the club's current number nine Joelinton as a "dud" and doubts that he will ever make it as the main goal-getter.
Joelinton smashed the Magpies' transfer record when he joined from Hoffenheim for £40m last summer, but he has since scored just one Premier League goal for the club.
Macdonald was one of the most famous owners of the Newcastle number nine shirt, along with the likes of Jackie Milburn and club-record scorer Alan Shearer, and he believes that it could take some of those past legends to work with Joelinton to get the Brazilian firing.
Asked whether Joelinton would ever make it as Newcastle's number nine, Macdonald told The Mirror: "No. There was something very telling a few weeks back when Steve Bruce 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 number nine 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.'
"They've played him wide left, but he's certainly no Thierry Henry. 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."
Macdonald played for Newcastle from 1971 to 1976, scoring 138 goals in 257 appearances.
Barney Corkhill
