‘The toughest thing in coming to Newcastle was leaving Josh’
turned down. That was what Josh told him, too.
“We are competitive, but not with each other,” says Murphy, who is slighter than most footballers, polite and softly spoken. “We want each other to do well. There isn’t any sort of rivalry. We want to elevate each other, not bring the other one down.
“Me and Josh have always wanted the best for each other, there has never been any jealousy. There were times when he was getting called up for England youth squads and I wasn’t, but I’d still go to the games and be buzzing for him. There were times I went, and he didn’t. Each of us is the other one’s biggest supporter. When I left, all he could say was how proud he was. The toughest thing about coming up here was leaving Josh.
“We’d always lived in the same house and now we’re at opposite ends of the country. It’s hard and strange, but we speak every day, often several times a day.
“Unless you have a twin, you don’t really know what that kind of connection is like. We are so in sync, we both love the same things, from toys to music and clothes. There were times last season when we lived together that we would get up for training, walk out of our bedrooms and we’d be wearing the same outfits, same shoes, same tops and same bottoms. We’d meet on the landing and laugh.
“On the pitch, we are telepathic. We noticed when we won the FA Youth Cup together [with Norwich in 2014]. We didn’t understand why people thought it was strange. It was normal practice for us. We knew where the other would be or where they would move to.
“It worked well, until we got to the first team. We got loads of stick from the boys because we kept on passing to each other all the time.
“Moving to Newcastle, it did take some adjusting to. It is helped by the fact that my extended family live in Gateshead, which is only 20 minutes away from my house.”
Murphy was born in Wembley, north-west London, but moved to rural Norfolk, near Kings Lynn, when he was 11 as “my parents did not want us to go to high school in London”. Newcastle, though, were always the team he supported because that was where his parents were from. Geordies do not abandon their team.
“When I first found out Newcastle wanted me, I was buzzing,” Murphy says, a smile breaking out as he remembers the moment. “They were the team we all supported, we didn’t have a choice. My nanna sent us the new The Brazilian twins signed for Manchester United in 2008 and enjoyed some success playing under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Both play at the highest level in Germany; Lars for Bayer Leverkusen and Sven at Borussia Dortmund.
Dutch pair had success at Barcelona, Rangers and Ajax.
Paul’s older brothers. Florentin is a defender for Saint-etienne and Mathias is a striker for Sparta Rotterdam. strip every Christmas. My first game was against PSV Eindhoven in the Uefa Cup; Gary Speed scored the winner. When I climbed up the steps and saw St James’ Park for the first time, I was like, ‘wow’.
“My agent told me Newcastle were interested. My mum was,
‘ this has got to happen’. My dad, he was like, ‘what happens if you stay at Norwich for one more season, get more experience?’ But it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down and he saw that. He was just a bit more cautious. All I need to do now is have a word with Rafa to get him to sign my brother. I have a lot of faith in Josh. If he doesn’t get to the Premier League with Norwich, a club will come in for him.”
It has taken time for Murphy to show Newcastle supporters what he is capable of, but Benitez has handled him carefully. The signs are good. Not least because Murphy is not easily distracted, not even by Newcastle’s infamous nightlife. Perhaps the biggest revelation of this interview is the 22-year-old has not had a single night out in the city during the six months he has lived there.
“I was desperate to impress, it was my dream move and maybe that didn’t help,” Murphy explains. “I would try things, dribbling at players and when you lose the ball, there is a reaction, disappointment. You hear it when there are 52,000 people in the stadium.
“It was annoying, because I knew what I was capable of and it didn’t work out at first. I was mainly being used as a sub, coming on for a few minutes. I tried too hard. I would try to do too many elaborate things and they wouldn’t come off and that would frustrate the fans. I was aware of it, but when I started games, I started to find my rhythm.”
He would love Josh to join him at Newcastle one day (Benitez contemplated bidding for both last year), but if Norwich beat Chelsea in their FA Cup replay next week, Jacob will end up playing against Josh in the fourth round. Their telepathy could be a problem then.