OPINION
It’s hard to think of a striker as universally panned as Joselu, and it’s time that Newcastle United tried to get the Spaniard off their books.
The former youth Spain international had a huge promising start to his career, and was a Real Madrid player this time 10 years ago, but has struggled massively since coming to England to play for Stoke City in 2016, and has rarely shown any kind of quality at all that could justify a spell with Los Blancos.
For the past few months, Joselu has played second fiddle to Salomon Rondon up on Tyneside, and it’s reaching a point now where his inclusion is met with widespread despondency and an assumption that the Magpies will lose that match.
In part this is not Joselu’s fault. As a striker, there is nothing worse than a faltering run of appearances, and it can lead to exactly the kind of rustiness that you cannot afford as a Premier League forward.
It was plain to see against Watford on Saturday. The 6’3″ [Transfermarkt] hitman was given the nod, and for large parts of the match cut a lonely and ineffective figure as his side limped to a 2-0 defeat that has reignited frustrations over Mike Ashley’s tenure as owner.
According to the Chronicle, there is interest in the 28-year-old from China and Europe, and it benefit club and player if he was given an escape route from his Geordie hell.
The report even suggests that the Magpies could make a profit on the £5 million they paid for the striker in 2017.
If that is true then they must jump at the chance to offload him, because things aren’t going to get any better any time soon.