Stephen Doyle has been speaking on a recent OTB AM episode and was full of praise for Newcastle United’s move to sign Jeff Hendrick.
The 28-year-old completed his move to Newcastle on Monday, and he has signed a four-year deal with the Toon, which led to Doyle heaping praise on the move and also talking about what he would like to see from Hendrick while he is on Tyneside.
It seems as if Doyle believes that playing alongside Jonjo Shelvey will help Hendrick and that this is a good move for the former Burnley man.
He said: “I think he’s got some good players in there with him, especially the likes of Jonjo Shelvey.
“Jonjo Shelvey, technically, is one of the best midfielders that has been produced in England over the last decade, he’s a brilliant passer of the ball, he’s such a good reader of the game, and I think playing alongside somebody like Jonjo Shelvey will help bring Jeff Hendrick along.
“We know Jeff Hendrick can be good going forward, he’s a good passer of the ball, he just needs to start getting a bit more confident with his shots around the box, we’ve seen he can score goals, he can score really good goals but he just needs to take a lot more chances.
“So, I think it’s a good and exciting move for Jeff Hendrick.”
Do you think this is a good signing for Newcastle?
Yes, good squad player
No, we could have done better
TIF Thoughts…
The 28-year-old left Burnley in late June and has joined the Toon on a free transfer, and both he and Bruce sound excited about the move.
It is interesting to see that Doyle mentioned Hendrick’s goalscoring as he did claim in an interview with NUFC TV (via NUFC Blog) that he would like to score more goals and hopes that he can do that at the Toon, so it will be intriguing to see if he can achieve that aim.
Hendrick has only scored two goals in 54 appearances for the Republic of Ireland and managed to score just ten goals for Burnley in 139 appearances, so we can see why both he and Doyle want to see improvement in that area.
It does sound as if Doyle is pleased that Hendrick has moved to St. James’ Park though despite him wanting the 28-year-old to improve on some areas of his game.